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Christmas For Grandparents – Personalized Christmas Gifts For Grandparents

Grandma — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 23:37:52 +0000

Choosing Christmas gifts for grandparents can at times be difficult, especially since many if not most grandparents have a home full of just about everything they need. Having seen several lists of what are deemed to be the “worst Christmas gifts for grandparents”, it is easy to see why gifting grandparents with things like cookbooks or knickknacks that must be cleaned or dusted aren’t the best ideas for gifting purposes.

Many grandparents have already or are in process of downsizing their homes to smaller abodes, so the last thing grandparents or elderly people need or want is more “stuff” to fill shelves and spend time on cleaning. Finding the perfect Christmas gift for a grandparent doesn’t have to be expensive, can certainly be homemade and dearly loved, and the more personalized the gift is the happier the grandparents will be.

While many grandparents love to receive new photos of their grandchildren for Christmas or other occasions, a new twist on the photo gift is to make a homemade iron on transfer and put the grandchildren’s picture on a sweatshirt or t-shirt for grandma and/or grandpa to wear proudly. Using fabric paint for the grandchildren to put their little hand prints on the front or back of the shirt is also a nice idea, and some parents even have their children use a fabric marker to write a special personalized message on the sweatshirt for an inexpensive gift.

Both grandma’s and grandpa’s love to bake cookies with their grandchildren, so one homemade gift idea might be to make “jar gifts” from your kitchen with dry ingredients for making cookies, brownies, muffins, cakes etc and place the ingredients in wide mouth jars or Mason jars in layers, decorated by the grandchildren with pretty ribbons and recipe instructions.

Another nice Christmas gift idea for grandparents requires a little help from the parents for making a homemade calendar with computer software with photos of the grandchildren for each of the twelve months. The grandchild(ren) can help select some of the best pictures to be used on the homemade calendar for a personalized touch, and may even want to use some decorative stickers for special dates like birthdays, holidays and anniversaries. Kids can make some kitchen magnets with self-photos using magnetic sheets, or plain kitchen magnets in various shapes with small photos applied, poems, special phrases or quotes.

For grandparents who have gardens, making some personalized stepping stones with clay kits is another cheap gift idea that grandparents will love, or handprint clay kits for young children to give their grandparents with hanging ribbon to display on the walls of their home. Personalized Christmas ornaments are lovely gifts for grandparents to trim their Christmas tree each year, and many other do-it-yourself craft kits for making grandma a necklace or bracelet and many other homemade craft gifts.

For Christmas, grandparents of all ages and abilities love nostalgia. Giving thoughtful gifts that bring back memories of long ago and perhaps forgotten over the years can brighten the smile on a grandparent’s face, being reminded of fun family times and family gatherings with a digital photo frame to cycle through important happy events. Grandchildren making a homemade scrapbook with help from mom and dad is another inexpensive but well thought out gift for grandparents to cherish.

Many grandparents love to read books but may have difficulty reading books with poor eyesight, which makes audio books a great gift option. Noise-cancelling earphones or headphones with volume controls allows grandparents with hearing impairment to enjoy listening to their favorite music or TV shows without difficulty. Senior grandparents who have difficulty getting around on their own, but enjoy activities to keep their mind sharp, find gifts like crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, board games, dominoes and crafting supplies wonderful gifts for grandparents to keep active.

Deciding on the best Christmas gifts for grandparents of any age is just a matter of knowing what their interests and hobbies are. Gift Grandma and/or Grandpa with a luxurious shower gift set or bath set for enjoying a soothing, warming and body-ache-reducing luxury bath or shower, perhaps with a bottle of their favorite women’s perfume or men’s cologne for a nice xmas present. As always, it truly is the Thought behind the gifts given that counts not the price tag, no matter how cheap the gifts may be, your thoughtful gift will be appreciated and cherished for many years.

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Christmas Preparation – Preparing Christmas Activities, Gift Lists, Cards and Xmas Dinner

Grandma — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:40:35 +0000

Christmas will be here before you know it. Year after year, we strive to begin preparing for Christmas very early into the holiday season, usually months ahead of time. Planning and preparing the various holiday season activities and parties to attend, as well as compiling a list of those we plan to buy gifts for, buying or making Christmas cards, preparing the Christmas dinner menu and guest list, and yes, all of the shopping for budget-friendly gifts.

As Dave Ramsey says, Christmas is not an emergency – it falls on December 25 every year, so you know it’s coming.

Preparing for Christmas well ahead of time, several months in advance even, helps a lot when on a tight budget. Watching for great sales and discounts on potential gift ideas throughout the year, and saving the gifts until Christmastime arrives, is a great help with sticking to a budget and not going overboard on expenses.

Creating a gift list with everyone’s names and any initial gift ideas, along with the total cost of each gift, can sometimes create sticker shock. By the time all of the names are added up, and what you initially think will be an appropriate amount to spend on each person, can sometimes come as a shock to the budget, where trimming names off of the list might be necessary in order to avoid going over budget.

Rather than actually removing names from the gift list, reducing the total amount to be spent on each gift recipient is a good alternative solution. Christmas doesn’t have to expensive, and paying for Christmas gifts with credit cards isn’t a wise choice either, which is why planning and preparing for Christmas by saving up money for purchases many months ahead of time is our preferred option.

We put a lot of thought into what to buy for someone as a xmas gift, and oftentimes we find buying something as a gift that we know is a true “need” vs just things on a “want” list brings us the greatest pleasure during the holiday season. Fortunately for us, it hasn’t been difficult to choose a gift for anyone we buy gifts for. Many times we gather ideas of what to give friends and family simply by paying close attention to any mention of something they’re needing and hoping to buy for themselves at some point in the future, making special note of what they’re needing, and we’re able to buy the item for them as a Christmas gift before they’ve had an opportunity to get it for themselves.

Homemade gifts for Christmas, or for any other holiday or birthday celebration, are among the most unique and thoughtful gifts one can give to another. The time it takes to make handmade gifts varies of course depending on how difficult the project is, which is just one reason why making fleece throw blankets and giving them as gifts is so enjoyable, because homemade throw blankets are quick and easy gifts to make and don’t cost much money to buy the fabric, and choosing fleece fabric that matches home décor is quite easy to do.

I’m not quite sure how many throw blankets I’ll be making and giving as gifts for Christmas this year, since I had already made around 25 throws and given most of them as birthday or anniversary gifts, or my personal favorite “just because” gifts. As much as we enjoy Christmastime with all the family gatherings, parties, dinner feasts and celebrating by giving gifts at Christmas, giving gifts to those we love and adore “just because” we love them dearly is our all-time favorite.

Every year, we create a spreadsheet containing all the names of people we’ll be buying Christmas gifts for, with added columns for jotting down gift ideas, estimated costs, and for making note of when Christmas cards were mailed out and to whom. We also include a column on the spreadsheet for the date gifts were shipped to family or friends living far away, and we keep the shipping tracking information close by to ensure the gifts arrive on time and aren’t lost in the mail.

For the most part, with few exceptions, we tend to spend an equal amount of money on gifts for each person. Sometimes that might mean one person may receive one wrapped present, while another person may receive two or even three gift wrapped presents, which only means we’re keeping as close to equal spending as possible. The only real exception to that is when we’re giving gifts to very young children and grandchildren, since at their tender ages, they can only see that another child has a greater number of gifts than he/she received and hurt feelings can ensue. We prefer to avoid that misunderstanding altogether.

Grandpa and I also find it helpful to split the gift list up, where he chooses gifts for some and I pick gifts for the others, so the responsibility is shared between us and reduces the potential of stress during the holidays. We don’t necessarily split the list equally, right down the middle, but that plan works well for us. Our family is continually growing, and we have another grandchild on the way, so somewhere along the line we’ll probably have to decide on making some adjustments on who we buy for and who may have to be dropped off the gift list.

Many families find that just buying gifts for the young children works well for them and their budget, and the adults receive no gifts at all, but still enjoy the love, fellowship and family gatherings even without gifts being exchanged. There really aren’t any “rules” to gift-giving at Christmastime, nor should there be, but it sure does help to begin saving up for the next year’s Christmas shopping spree in January.

Starting to save money for Christmas very early into the new year allows us the spur-of-the-moment gift buying for those we buy for that love their gadgets and electronics, and we’ve found many discount deals on what will ultimately become a Christmas gift by buying gifts well before the so-called “Christmas shopping season”.

By then, we’re finished shopping for gifts and they’re already wrapped and hidden away months and months before the masses hit the malls and struggle to find parking, while we’re comfy and cozy relaxing at home by the fireplace and listening to Christmas music. No Christmas shopping rush for us. That’s why Christmas planning works so well for us.

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What is Quinoa? Nutrition Facts and Recipes For Quinoa

Grandma — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:19:13 +0000

Quinoa? What is that?, I asked. Pronounced “Keen-wah”, not Kee-no-wah, quinoa is something I had never heard of until very recently and wanted to find out more. Friends were discussing a website called “Cooking Quinoa“, which has recipes for cooking with quinoa with lots of delicious looking pictures of foods made with it.

Based on everything I’ve read so far about quinoa, its numerous health benefits and the nutritional facts shown on bulk packages I found, adding quinoa to our diet is a smart choice. We’re not vegetarian or vegan by any means, we do enjoy eating lean meats for sure, but we have been reducing our consumption of fatty meats over the last few months.

So, my next question was, where can I buy quinoa? I happened to find some organic quinoa, made by the brand called Nature’s Earthly Choice, while browsing around in Costco yesterday. The package says quinoa is a 100% whole grain, gluten free, wheat free and an excellent choice of protein. Quoting from the back of the 4 lb resealable bag of quinoa, the nutritional benefits of quinoa are described as follows:

“Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) is a highly nutritious gluten free seed, originally from the Andean region of South America. It’s mild, slightly nutty flavor makes it a terrific substitute for rice or couscous. Quinoa, praised for its excellent nutritional profile, is an exceptional source of protein, containing all eight amino acids, making quinoa an excellent option for people looking to reduce their consumption of meat. Quinoa is also a good source of dietary fiber and contain B vitamins and iron.

More and more consumers are seeking great tasting and nutritious gluten-free options. Our organic Quinoa is one of the very best. Quinoa is extremely versatile and easy to prepare. Cooked quinoa makes a delicious side dish when mixed with vegetables and seasonings. You can use our quinoa for everything from breakfast cereals, to soups and salads, or add to your favorite chili recipe. Quinoa is also great as a filling for fun and healthy burritos or tacos. Our quinoa is pre-washed so you can simply cook and eat, no need to presoak or rinse.

Using two cups of liquid per cup of quinoa, combine liquid and quinoa in a sauce pan or rice cooker. Bring the mixture to a vigorous boil, then lower heat and simmer, covered, until quinoa is tender but still chewy and white spiral-like threads appear around each grain, about 15 minutes. You can make a larger batch of quinoa and store it in your refrigerator. During the week as you need it, pull the desired amount of cooked quinoa from your refrigerator and add to your favorite recipes.”

Cooking quinoa ahead of time and refrigerating portions is a great idea for busy people like us who don’t have a lot of time for meal preparation, but actually prefer quick and easy recipes. Quinoa leaves are eaten like a leafy vegetable, which would make growing quinoa in a garden a great addition to all the other vegetables and fruits, if the soil and climate requirements are met.

Wikipedia has an extensive description of what quinoa is, including detailed explanations of the nutritional facts about quinoa in general, and the red and black quinoa varieties. Quinoa is incredibly versatile and there are so many different ways of using it on a daily basis. Considering how healthy and beneficial quinoa is for overall health and wellbeing, it just makes sense to buy quinoa in bulk and always have it in stock.

Quinoa can be prepared and used in many different recipe dishes, including breakfast meals. Use quinoa in cereals, yogurt, pudding, smoothies, juices, burgers, salads, soups, breads, muffins, pancakes, chicken recipes, and more. I found some quinoa flakes too, besides the seed variety, so we’re going to be buying both types.

I’m anxious to try quinoa seeds or flakes in a lean turkey meatloaf recipe I have, but I would imagine meatloaf made with lean beef and quinoa would be delicious too. The quinoa cooking website mentioned above has spectacular pictures and How-To instructions of meals prepared with quinoa, and there’s even a quinoa cookbook available for free download.

But, where do you find and buy quinoa? Not all stores carry it, but many health food stores do. I found the one brand of organic quinoa at Costco but I don’t want to be limited to just the one brand, and I want to buy quinoa in bulk vs smaller bags or boxes found in some grocery stores. Searching online for where to buy quinoa, including black and red quinoa in 10 or 25 lb bulk sizes, I found quinoa pasta, noodles, flour, flakes and seeds offered by different brands. Brand names like Ancient Harvest, Nature’s Path, Earthly Delights, Roland, Bob’s Red Mill, Arrowhead Mills, Eden Organic and others.

I don’t think you can ever have too many cookbooks, so when I heard about the quinoa cookbook called Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood and another cookbook called The Quinoa Cookbook: Over 70 Great Quinoa Recipes, I just had to have all three. The rice cooker/steamer is plugged in and ready for some major cooking and experimenting with quinoa recipes this week and I can’t wait to see how it all turns out.

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Home Canning For Beginners – Canning Books, Equipment and Supplies

Grandma — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:58:08 +0000

Home canning and preserving have been around forever, but I’ve only known a couple of people in my lifetime so far who know how to can. Learning how to can fruits and vegetables grown in our organic garden is a relatively new interest of mine, and it only makes sense to learn as much as possible about the basics of canning in order to can correctly the first time around, hopefully.

Being an avid reader with a thirst for knowledge on many different topics, acquiring books on home canning that explain exactly how home canning is done, the needed canning jars and supplies, and of course a variety of tasty recipes for the canned goods is a must-do for canning beginners like me. Fortunately, technology advances have improved the options available for people wanting to begin canning for the first time, where the “old fashioned” way of canning isn’t the only way anymore.

I only have a vague recollection of seeing someone in the process of canning in their kitchen when I was a very young girl, and if memory serves correctly, she was canning by boiling the dickens out of stuff the old fashioned way. Mason jars and lids were everywhere, as were a variety of prepared and seasoned vegetables and fruits, waiting to be put into the canning jars and added to the huge pot of boiling water on the stove.

Growing our own vegetables and some fruits in our garden is a lot of work and very time consuming, but the benefits of organic gardening far outweigh the so-called negatives of needing to spend so much time and getting dirty in the hot summer heat. The fruits of our labor are well worth the time and effort, and being able to preserve foods by canning some of what we grow to greatly increase the shelf-life is a great advantage.

Although we haven’t yet actually begun home canning quite yet, we are in the process of gathering the various supplies and cooking utensils recommended for people wanting to begin home canning. We’re looking into home canning kits and comparing prices and reading reviews on a variety of pressure cookers and boiling canners, in order to make an informed decision of the best way to start canning.

Stocking up on mason jars and lids for successful canning is of course necessary, and we’ve been on a hunt to find where to buy canning jars at the best prices, whether online or in a brick and mortar store. I’ve heard that home canning equipment and supplies can sometimes be found rather cheaply online, on eBay and other sites, so we’ll be checking those listings out soon for best prices and shipping costs.

We’ve been putting our power juicer to good use with some of the organic fruits and vegetables from our garden and others bought at local farmers markets that we aren’t growing ourselves, and starting home canning for the sometimes overabundance of foods grown just seems to be the next natural step. Home canned jams and jellies are absolutely delicious, without all of the added “junk” found in store-bought varieties, and having tasted a few samples of veggies preserved by home canning makes canning our own that much more enticing.

Having talked to a couple of people who do home canning regularly about what kinds of canning jars to buy and why, it seems most prefer the Ball brand, but one person mentioned liking the Kerr brand better. The wide mouth Ball mason jars get high recommendation, so we’ll be getting quite a few of those, along with the bands and lids that are necessary.

It’s only natural that there should be some sort of checklist of things to have on hand when beginning home canning, whether canning is done the old fashioned way or by using products like pressure canners/cookers etc. Checking off our list of things to buy is only a matter of time, once we’ve carefully considered and reviewed consumer reviews of home canning supplies and equipment, and of course compared prices.

Besides the items mentioned already, we already have some of the commonly used kitchen gadgets and utensils that are recommended for canning at home. Dutch oven or large kettle, colander, cooking spoons, heat proof rubber spatulas, measuring cups and mixing bowls, cutting board and knives and so on. We’ll need to get lid rims, a wide mouth funnel, food mill, sieve, waterproof labels and label maker, and maybe even a bakers cooling rack.

Having an extra refrigerator/freezer allows us to take home canning and freezing to whole new level, and I can hardly wait to get started. A friend told me to be sure to buy a good quality waterbath canner with rack included, which (to me) looks like a large stew pot my mom used to have, so that’s one more item to add to my home canning checklist.

I’m excited to try out some of the delicious sounding recipes I’ve seen online from canning “experts”, and once we’re confident that our efforts of learning how to can at home have been a success, we plan to share some of what we’ve made by giving some away as thoughtful gifts to others.

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Top 5 Gadgets for Grandma

Grandma — Tue, 17 May 2011 23:40:24 +0000

As you may already know, some grandmas are pretty much set in their ways. It’s hard for them to embrace “new school” applications, especially when it comes to technology—some find all those fancy tech gadgets and accessing the World Wide Web a tad bid too complicated.

But there are in fact special gadgets that are designed with Grandma in mind. To learn the top 5 grandma-user friendly tech gadgets that she might want to try, continue reading below.

5. The TKO Door Knob Turner. This low tech but highly effective gadget is designed to make turning doorknobs, faucets and valves a simpler task–a perfect gadget for grandmas who suffer with arthritis or for frail grandmas who have minimal manual strength. Price: $22.95

4. Kodak Pulse digital picture frame. It’s no mystery that grandmas love to receive photos of their grandchildren, but due to social networking sites like Facebook, more than half of all photos get posted online and never see the sight of a decent photo frame. Instead of having to go through the hassle of showing Grandma how to maneuver Facebook so she can view photos of her growing grandchildren, this new digital photo frame from Kodak allows family members to send digital photos from Facebook or via email directly to Grandma’s photo frame. All she needs is Wi-Fi internet access.

3. The Amazon Kindle. For Grandmas who love to read but suffer with poor eye sight, this e-reader may be the perfect solution. This is because it is made with a special “ink” that prevents sun glare and reads just like real paper, unlike computer screens that put strain on the eyes if looked at for too long due to the back light. In addition, the e-reader is light weight and grandmas can download books without having to stress about computer technical difficulties. Price: Starts at $114

2. JitterBug. There is no denying that Grandma needs a cell phone, at the very least for emergency purposes. But if the new smart phones are just too advanced for her, get her a simple JitterBug phone. This phone, which is especially designed for the elderly, has giant buttons and a clear, crisp phone screen— perfect for those who struggle with poor eyesight. If Grandma’s hands are too achy or shaky to scroll down her digital phone book, the phone also has a voice- activation system that will call contacts for her. It also includes an emergency button incase Grandma ever finds herself in an unfortunate predicament. Price: Starts at $99

1. iPad 2. The iPad 2 may seem like a gadget that is too advanced for Grandma, but in actuality it’s the perfect grandma-user friendly device. The large and simple icon buttons are easy enough for her to see and press; in addition the ultra-light weight design allows her to take her iPad wherever she goes. A great alternative to a heavy lap top or desktop computer, grandmas can do a variety of activities on a iPad, including some light reading, download brain exercises to keep their mind fresh to help fight dementia, video chat with children and grand children located in other parts of the country, and watch YouTube videos of their favorite cooking shows in the kitchen, for example. Starts at $499.00

Mariana Ashley is a freelance writer who particularly enjoys writing about online colleges. She loves receiving reader feedback, which can be directed to mariana.ashley031@gmail.com.

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Power Juicers, Jack LaLanne Juicers or Breville Juicers, What is the Best Juice Extractor to Buy?

Grandma — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:41:51 +0000

I wanted to buy a power juicer for fruit and vegetable juicing before we decided to start an organic garden of our own, and I’m thrilled with our recently purchased Breville Juice Fountain Elite 800JEXL juicing machine. After consulting with Consumer Reports juicer reviews of various brands and models and reading many other online customer reviews of juicers, the decision to buy a Breville juicer was an easy one.

While researching juice extractors, reading about the differences between a simple citrus juicer vs. a power juice extractor for fruit and vegetable combinations, and understanding the terminologies used for juicers was a great help in deciding which juicer to buy. I’ve of course heard of the Jack LaLanne juicers and seen the infomercials more times than I care to count hyping the LaLanne juicer as being the best juicer, so I was somewhat surprised to find it had the lowest ratings on Consumer Reports.

With so many types of juicers on the market today, trying to understand the difference between centrifugal juicers, centrifugal ejection juicers, masticating juicers, wheatgrass juicers, manual or industrial/commercial juicers and so on, can leave customers wanting to buy a juicer very confused. Plainly put, if you plan to juice fruits and vegetables together or by themselves, look for what you feel is the perfect juicer that meets your needs, preferences and budget.

Consumer Reports reviewed juicer brands including Black & Decker, Cuisinart, Hamilton Beach, Jack LaLanne, Juiceman, Oster, Breville, Waring, West Bend, Dr. Weil and Omega brand juicers. Evaluations and comparisons were made based on overall juicing performance, convenience and noise levels. Prices of all the juicers reviewed ranged between approximately $80.00 all the way up to about $300.00, give or take a little.

CR ranked the Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Pro juicer as its choice for “best buy”, receiving very good to excellent ratings for convenience and overall performance, but a fair rating for noise. It is also listed as being one of the cheapest juicers evaluated, with the Oster 3167 juicer model being the least expensive at a cost of just $70.00 on average.

Interestingly enough, my favorite Breville juicer is only given a fair rating for noise (I completely disagree), but received very good reviews and high marks for convenience and overall performance. If you haven’t yet subscribed to Consumer Reports magazine, I highly recommend you do. It’s the best money I’ve spent on a magazine yet. For me, choosing the Breville Juice Fountain Elite was a no-brainer; it works perfectly and one of the best features is the extremely quick and easy cleanup.

The Breville has a wide mouth food chute, a powerful motor with two speed settings (low and high), and most of the components are dishwasher safe. Visiting family and friends have enjoyed experimenting with different juicing recipes and have come up with some great tasting fruit and vegetable juice combinations that leaves us wanting more. The remaining pulp, skins from veggies and fruits etc do not go to waste nor are thrown away; these can and are used in salads, soups and stews, or can be recycled as organic garden mulch.

So, CR rated the Jack Lalanne PJP Power Juicer Pro the absolute lowest among all the other reviewed brands, makes and models of juicing machines, well below the Breville. I certainly didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a new power juicer, so price comparisons between the different brands was carefully evaluated in an effort to keep costs down. Looking for the so-called “best juicer” really depends on what the consumer intends to do with the machine. People who just want to juice fruits really only need a citrus juicer, whereas those who wish to juice vegetables and fruits in various recipe combinations need what is called a juice extractor machine.

The health benefits of juicing are well known, documented and highly recommended by many physicians and healthcare professionals. It’s very interesting that people who may have difficulty digesting certain fruits or vegetables, or those who don’t like eating certain vegetables or fruits, quickly discover juicing to be a great alternative and are able to easily digest and actually enjoy consuming the very healthy, fresh uncooked foods they’ve been avoiding.

It’s exciting and fun to watch young children and teens quickly consume fruit and/or vegetable juices made with a home juicing machine, who usually turn their noses up at eating fresh, cooked or uncooked vegetables or fresh fruits. I have observed very “picky” young children, toddlers even, who absolutely love drinking juices made from the same vegetables they typically would say no to. These same “picky eater” kids actually ask mom or dad to make them these great tasting juices; juices that include tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, kale, carrots, beets, cauliflower and other “yucky” veggies.

Personally speaking, I love and enjoy eating just about every kind of vegetable there is on the market, as our organic vegetable and fruit garden shows. Buying a quality juicer is a big help in ensuring we are getting our recommended daily allowance of vegetable and fruit servings, and cranking up the stainless steel “silver bullet” Breville juicer first thing in the morning means we are doing what is necessary to get all the vitamins and nutrients needed for healthy living throughout the day.

The final push that lead me to buy the Breville Juice Fountain Elite was the several hundred positive reviews by consumers who purchased theirs on Amazon, love it above all other juicers, and highly recommend this particular model juicer. The fact that the Breville is among the top listed and best selling juicers on Amazon, along with the free shipping and discounted price, told me everything I needed to know before buying a Breville juicer.

Cooking.com and Epinions.com have also accumulated many great reviews of the Breville juicer, making this particular power juicer machine highly sought after by consumers, even though it is a little more expensive than a cheap basic juicer. We love our juicer and whichever brand and model electric juicing machine you choose that best serves your intended purposes, you’ll be glad you have joined the countless number of people who are adding fresh fruit and vegetable juices to their daily diet. Carrots, apples and beets juiced together. Yum!

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Super Bowl Snacks – BLT Dip and Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipes for Super Bowl Sunday

Grandma — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 15:27:39 +0000

Super Bowl XLV kickoff starts in just a few hours from now, and we’re preparing our favorite Super Bowl snacks, dips and recipes for a fun Super Bowl party with family and friends. We’ve decided to add two more snacks for our Super Bowl Sunday gathering, the BLT Dip (bacon, lettuce and tomato dip), and the delicious Buffalo Chicken Dip commonly referred to as Buffalo Dip.

Our Super Bowl watching party would not be complete without many of the most popular snacks football fans want to have and enjoy while watching the Big Game. Buffalo Chicken Dip, BLT Dip, hot and spicy chicken wings, Frito chips and bean dip, popcorn, shrimp dip, stuffed mushrooms, guacamole, vegetable tray with dipping sauces, bbq chicken, potato skins, pasta salad, pizza, and my famous Mexican 7-layer dip. We’re skipping the chili this year.

Buffalo Dip recipes can be made with chicken, franks, blue cheese and various other ingredients, and can be prepared quickly or slow-cooked in a crock pot. We’re making the quick and easy Buffalo Chicken Dip and BLT Dip for our Super Bowl party this year, so we can spend more time enjoying guests and less time in the kitchen. Our favorite BLT Dip recipe uses cream cheese, but other times we’ve used light sour cream and light mayonnaise for a more healthy snack.

BLT Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Dip Recipe

Ingredients:

8 oz softened cream cheese

1/2 C ranch salad dressing

1 medium size seeded and diced tomato, reserve 1 T for garnish

6 crisply cooked and chopped bacon slices

1/2 C finely chopped celery

2 T finely chopped onion

1 t sugar

Medium size serving bowl, chilled

Lettuce leaves

How to Make BLT Dip

Place softened cream cheese in a medium size mixing bowl. Gradually stir in dressing; mixing until blended well together.

Add to the cream cheese mixture: chopped bacon, celery, onion, tomato, sugar; mix well.

Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours to allow flavors to blend.

When ready to serve, line your chilled serving bowl with lettuce leaves, then fill with the chilled BLT Dip. Lightly garnish the dip with reserved 1 tablespoon of diced tomato. Serve with your favorite dippers such as crackers, chips or toasted bread.

Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipe

Ingredients:

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1 (10 ounce) can chicken, drained (or freshly-cooked, rotisserie, chopped chicken)

1 cup ranch dressing

3/4 cup Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Wing Sauce red hot sauce

Cheddar cheese, (amount to your liking)

Frito corn chip scoops, crackers, celery/vegetable dippers, toasted bread

How to Make Buffalo Chicken Dip

With your mixer, beat the softened cream cheese, ranch dressing, and red hot buffalo wing sauce until blended well.

Gently fold in shredded chicken. Spread buffalo chicken dip mixture onto pie plate lightly sprayed with Pam. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Add cheddar cheese on top and bake an additional 10-15 minutes. Serve the buffalo chicken dip hot with your favorite dippers, Frito scoops, chips, crackers, toasted bread, etc.

When we make the Buffalo Chicken Dip, sometimes we use Texas Pete Buffalo Style Chicken Wing Sauce, but other times whatever hot sauce we have on hand.

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Easy Beginner Sewing Patterns – Easiest Sewing Patterns for Beginners to Learn How to Sew

Grandma — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 21:13:32 +0000

As a sewing beginner, it makes sense to learn how to sew different things from easy sewing patterns, whether the patterns are free pattern downloads found online or quick and easy patterns made and bought from Simplicity and others. I’ve been making a long list of easy sewing and craft projects I want to make myself with my sewing machine, but I’m also planning on taking advantage of as many no-sew crafts and kits as possible too, for home use or to give as gifts for various occasions that come up.

I recently came across a complete list of sewing pattern companies, with many company names I’ve never heard of. The most well-known, popular pattern companies tend to be Kwik Sew, McCall’s, Simplicity, Stretch & Sew, Butterick, Burda, Amy Butler, Vogue, etc. Since my order for fleece and cotton fabric has arrived from my favorite online fabric stores and so quickly, I’m ready to really jump-start my sewing hobby by making several easy scrub tops, since Grandpa’s no-sew throw blanket is nearly finished.

At this point, I definitely fall into the category of beginner/novice vs. intermediate, advanced or expert, so it‘s important for me to choose from the easiest sewing patterns as a sewing beginner for quick results to stay motivated and not become bored or overwhelmed. It was somewhat surprising to find Vogue patterns in the “easy” category, since much of the fashion patterns and crafts I’ve seen made by Vogue don’t look easy at all, and definitely not quick.

Easiest Sewing Patterns For Beginners

As much as I like finding and using copyright free, downloaded patterns for sewing projects and crafts, I actually prefer to buy easy sewing patterns that are not only cheap but by reputable, well known pattern companies known for making patterns with easy-to-follow how-to instructions, pictures and diagrams, as well as detailed information on the amount of fabric needed and what types of fabric to use for what I’m trying to make.

For that reason, I really like Kwik-Sew and Simplicity’s sewing patterns for dummies because of how easy it is make sewing a hobby rather than a boring chore to be avoided, and there are so many great beginner sewing ideas to choose from. Some of the easiest sewing projects anyone can make with even a beginners sewing machine are pillows, door draft stoppers, pot holders, throw blankets, flannel baby blankets, simple tote bags, homemade grocery bag holder, sachets, hats and hood scarves, basic aprons, hair scrunches, pillow cases and shams, fabric eye glass case, wraps, pajamas and nightgowns, cloth napkins and placemats, baby shoes and slippers/booties, soft toys and more.

We’ve gotten more involved with recycling than ever before, and an easy sewing project on my list is to make some cheap cloth, reusable grocery bags out of unused, leftover, recycled fabric rather than asking for paper or plastic at the grocery store or paying for the cloth grocery tote bags at the store. I found a couple quick and easy stretch and sew patterns for tote bags that would make great grocery store reusable totes, and I’ve even been asked to make a few extras for friends and family who have begun recycling coffee grounds and want some fabric grocery bags in an effort to become more eco-friendly.

Clothkits

Years ago I remember hearing about the British Clothkits company mail order business, which specialized in selling silk-screened patterns pre-printed onto fabric – clothing kits for children and adults, containing all the materials needed to cut out and assemble clothes without the need of pinning paper patterns to fabric.

I looked up Clothkits online to see if the company had resurfaced, and if by chance there might be any USA Clothkit stores online or any stores at all that might sell cloth kits, as a quick and easy sewing project for beginners, older kids, moms and Grandma’s like me. An artist named Kay Mawer bought the Clothkits brand in 2007 and relaunched the UK company in 2008, which is great for people who live there but not so great for American’s who don’t want to pay the international shipping costs to have cloth kits delivered to the US.

While browsing Facebook pages “liked” by friends, I happened upon information about a store in Columbus Ohio called Lottie Da, owned and run by Amy Routh. Amy’s online Lottie Da Baby website says she’ll soon be selling Clothkits, but there’s no information yet on exactly when that will begin or how much cloth kits will cost consumers. Considering how popular cloth kits clothes are in other countries, it sounds like a great kids sewing project and a good one for sewing beginners to check out. If the price is right.

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Fabric By The Yard: Top 10 Best Online Fabric Stores to Buy Cheap, Discount Sewing and Crafts Fabric

Grandma — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 20:59:02 +0000

Many were disappointed to find their local area Walmart fabric department no longer carries any types of fabric anymore, and even a search on the website at Walmart, fabric by the yard is nowhere to be found. Even though I’m admittedly a sewing beginner for all intense purposes, finding the best prices on all fabric types for sewing and craft projects is a top priority, regardless of the current status of our economy.

Just like anyone else who enjoys sewing and making homemade crafts, finding the best discounts and deals on fabric, notions and accessories, is just a matter of knowing where to shop. There are many fabric stores to choose from, both online and offline, and the convenience of shopping at online fabric stores is especially nice and easy, even if there are brick-and-mortar fabric stores nearby.

Why buy fabric online? One of the great benefits of shopping fabric stores online is the opportunity to take advantage of the many web-only, deeply discounted sales, coupons and promotion codes for fashion apparel and novelty fabrics, sewing machines, patterns, crafts, quilting, scrapbooking, knitting, crocheting, decorating, upholstering, notions, needed sewing supplies, etc.

Many fabric stores even offer sewing lessons for beginners who want to learn how to sew a dress and make crafts, but there are also websites that teach beginners how to sew with online sewing lessons, how-to videos and podcasts, and plain and simple text instructions. I wouldn’t have known how to make door draft blockers myself if it weren’t for the easy to follow directions provided by online tutorials, free patterns and helpful videos.

Even before my beginners sewing machine was ever purchased, I made a list of the most popular online fabric stores to buy fabric from, watch for sales and discounts, subscribe to fabric promotional newsletters by email, and it’s been one of the best things I could have done. Buying fabric online is, by far, the most convenient way of getting the supplies I need to complete crafts and sewing projects at clearance prices, versus the time it takes to shop at a fabric store offline.

10 Best Online Fabric By The Yard and Crafts Stores

Fabric – Discount fabrics at Fabric.com

Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts store at joann.com

Hancock Fabrics – see the Hancock Fabrics Homepage at hancockfabrics.com

Robert Kaufman Fabrics (wholesale) at robertkaufman.com

Fabric Depot at fabricdepot.com

Amazon Fabric and Crafts at amazon.com

Etsy Fabric shops at etsy.com

Vogue Fabrics at voguefabricsstore.com

Hobby Lobby at hobbylobby.com

Michael’s at michaels.com

Another very popular online wholesale fabric store is Alexander Henry Fabrics at ahfabrics.com, but since I’m not a wholesaler or fabric store owner, I stick with finding fabric for sale at online retail stores.

Quick and Easy Sewing Projects

It’s not hard to find quick and easy sewing projects for beginners like me, to make homemade crafts we can be proud of having made ourselves. Sew and no-sew crafts, crafts kits, free patterns and tutorials etc to make your own clothes, dress, shirts, t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, jackets, hand tie fleece throw blankets, baby clothes, baby blankets, pants, holiday costumes, etc.

One easy sewing project I’ve been researching for awhile is how to make your own uniforms, like medical/dental/nursing scrubs (tops and pants), and I’m anxious to begin making my own scrubs now that I have an easy to follow simplicity scrubs pattern I found on Amazon while shopping online for fabrics.

There are many (Many!) sewing blogs and craft blogs online for beginners and kids, and even more advanced crafting and sewing enthusiasts can learn how to make just about anything you could possibly want to make yourself. Just do a search online for “sew mama sew blog”, “sewing blogs”, “craft blogs”, “easy kids crafts”, “fun kids crafts” etc, and you’ll find more cheap grownup crafts and free kids craft ideas than you’ll know what to do with. Spring, Summer, Fall and Wintertime boredom will be nonexistent once you get started.

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Door Draft Blockers – How to Make Door Draft Stoppers with Door or Window Draft Dodger Patterns

Grandma — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 21:20:46 +0000

Door draft blockers are called by many different names. Door draft blocker, door draft stopper, door draft dodger, door draft stop and even a “bean snake”. Simply put, a door draft dodger, stopper or blocker is a long tube of fabric that is sewn and stuffed with various materials and used to keep the cold and windy outside air from coming into your house or apartment through drafty windows, doors and fireplaces.

Using door draft stoppers under doors, along drafty window sills, to cover any cracks where cold air leaks in or around fireplaces helps keep warm air in and cold air outside where it belongs, and helps consumers save money on heating bills and energy during cold and blustery winter months. During hot summer months, cool air conditioned air can leak out through the same cracks around doors, patios and windows, substantially increasing your electric air-conditioning bills.

Stop Door Drafts! Every home has at least one leaky door, window or window sills, patio sliding door, basement doors or windows, fireplace or attic doors that should be checked for air leaks. To check for any air leaks or cracks, feel around every door, door frames, windows and other areas of your home with your bare hand or cheek and see if you feel any amount of air leakage or draft.

You can buy snake-shaped door draft dodgers to guard and protect against air leaks that actually look like a snake with a whimsical designed red felt tongue and button snake eyes, or various animals like dogs and cats. Grandpa and I love the Hallmark Maxine door draft dodger we found on eBay, which could be used to block door drafts or as a decorative fireplace mantel shelf sitter.

How to Make Door Draft Stoppers

Making door draft stoppers is an ideal, inexpensive craft project for sewing beginners and a great kids craft project for older kids, sewn on a sewing machine (with help from mom or Grandma), crocheted or knitted. Beginner sewing books and simple door draft patterns with easy to follow instructions are cheap, with suggestions on fabrics to use and a list of things needed to make whatever style door or window draft stopper you might want to make.

Free, printable, downloadable sewing patterns can be found online to make fabric snake door draft stoppers, patchwork door draft blockers and very cute character themed drafty door blockers that look like a dog (dachshund, sheepdog, husky, lab, etc), cool cats, cow, leopard, dragon, hippo, camouflage, giraffe, bunny rabbit, Santa Claus, snowman, Wizard of Oz wicked witch of the west ruby slippers and legs draft stopper, dolls, a Star Wars space slug, brown wood fireplace log, a tree branch with green leaves, gnome and mushroom, and many other ingenious ideas for craft hobbyists.

If you want to make your own fabric stuffed draft snake with your sewing machine, you will need enough fabric to cover the area where your draft dodger will be placed. Fabric needed for making draft stoppers can be heavy duty fabrics like corduroy, denim (old jeans), upholstery or quilt fabric. You can also use 100% cotton, flannel, heavy stretch knits or polar fleece, polyester blends, super soft micro-suede fabric, dad’s old neckties, etc. If you have any leftover fabric pieces from previous sewing/craft projects, these would work nicely for making patchwork draft stoppers.

Besides your sewing machine (unless sewing seams by hand -ugh!), you will need measuring tape, matching or coordinating thread, good quality fabric cutting shears, your sewing pattern/template (if needed), straight/stick pins, funnel and stuffing materials. Optional materials needed for DIY draft stoppers, depending on what kind of draft stopper you plan to make, might include a variety of decorative accessories such as buttons for eyes, felt material for snake tongue, etc.

What to stuff your door draft dodger with? There are many ideas for stuffing materials that range from eco-friendly recycled products you may already have in your home like old socks, cloth scraps, old sheets, pillowcases, cut up sweatshirts or t-shirts, cotton gloves and towels etc will all make great stuffing for recycled door draft stoppers.

Stuffing ideas may also be sawdust, sandbox sand, dried beans, peas, shredded up newspaper, un-popped popcorn, aquarium gravel, cat litter or “yesterday’s news cat litter” made from recycled newspaper, pieces of quilt cotton batting, fiberfill pillow stuffing, polypropylene pellets used in beanie babies which are washable and nontoxic. Uncooked rice and feed corn is sometimes suggested for filling draft dodger snakes but is not recommended for homes with pet dogs or cats, and anyone experiencing trouble with mice should definitely not use corn or other grains as an organic filler for draft stoppers.

5 online resources where you can learn simple and easy ways of making adorable homemade drafter stoppers are:

Door Draft Blocker Snake Craft that Kids Can Make at CraftJr.com
Martha Stewart’s Draft Dodger Tutorial and Template at her website
20 Door Draft Snake Ideas for Do-It-Yourselfer’s at The Daily Green
15 Door Draft Stoppers, Dodgers, Snakes with FREE Patterns at TipNut (love this site!)
FREE Download, Printable DIY Door Draft Snake in PDF at VonFrau

Detailed, step-by-step “how to” instructions, pictures and printable tutorials to make your own door draft stoppers includes my personal favorite which is the “hot dog draft stop” snake I found on the craft stylish website, that I am in process of making into a Lab draft stopper for Grandpa.

Crafter’s and hobbyists can turn their homemade sewn, knitted or crocheted door draft stoppers into wonderful wintertime Christmas gifts, donate the draft stoppers to homeless shelters, senior citizens, low-income families in need, church groups, or even sell them online at Etsy.com or at craft sales or garage sales. Fun, easy to make, and best of all…appreciated.

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