Bread Bag

I whipped up a quick bag to keep my bread along with my cutting board in.  That way we're not wasting plastic or foil and it's quick and convenient to slice.

 It's made out of  PUL, which is a type of plastic used to make diapers often. I know PUL isn't FDA approved for food, but there's also lots of debate whether or not plastic baggies and ziplock bags are really food safe too. Pretty much it seems like a no win battle, I think. So we end up wrapping the loaf of bread in a cheese cloth and popping it in this bag so it keeps the air out. At least we're not throwing plastic away...but there needs to be more food safe, air tight options in my opinion.

On a positive, the design works perfect!  The bottom is 6 inch square.  The 4 sides are 16 x6 inch rectangles.  I sewed it up, leaving the top side open.  I turned the top side over and hemmed.  There's a soft side 3 inch velcro midway on the bag.  There's a1 inch scratchy velcro on the opposite side of where the soft side velcro is, placed on the hem.  You can fold over twice to securely close the bag, so it's air tight. Sometimes I can fit 2 loaves of bread in it and freeze it.

A tight fold secured by velcro.

Jackie's Bread

My New Year's Resolution?  Make all of our bread.  From scratch.  I've dabbled in a bunch of recipes, and this creation is my own, the one that my husband says is the winner.

Jackie's Bread


2 1/2 C. warm water with 1 TBSP sugar
5 tsp. yeast
¼ C.  olive oil
¼ C. honey
1  tsp.  salt
Whole Wheat flour (either ¼ C. gluten with2 C. whole wheat flour OR 2 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour)
3-4  C. white flour

Wisk sugar water and yeast with fork.  Let set 5 min.  Add olive oil, honey, salt.  Add  whole wheat flour combo as listed above.  Add the remaining flour one cup at a time (amount changes depending on humidity).  Knead for 5 min. I use a kitchen aid mixer and when the bread is all collected on the hook, I know it has enough flour and has been kneaded enough.

Spray a large bowl with cooking spray.  Put dough in bowl, then turn over (so top of dough is covered with cooking spray).  Dampen cheese cloth and put over bowl.  Let rise in warm place for one hour.  Bang bowl to punch down.

Separate dough in half (this recipe makes 2 loaves).  Either place the halves in the greased loaf pan or braid. To braid, with each half, divide further into 3 pieces,  roll into long ‘snake’ and braid a tight braid.  Place in greased loaf pans.  Let rise for 1/2 hour.

350 for 35 min. Turn out of pans immediately onto wire racks (so dough doesn’t get soggy).  Enjoy…and make sure to tell me you tried my recipe!

Sweedish Weaving

Do you have a bunch of yarn hanging around, just looking for a project?  I was given some left over yarn from both of my grandmothers.  One did crochet, the other a knitter.  I used the yarn to do a little sweedish weaving. 

  

All you need is Huck cloth (a couple yards, around $10 is what I spent), a yarn needle, yarn and a pattern. Zig zag the edges.  Wash and dry the cloth.  Find the center and begin the pattern (a friend gave me a pattern). When you're done, sew the sides and fray the edges.  

Here's my grandmother learning. Although she said she'd stick with knitting. 

Dog Bed

Have an old pillow that you no longer use?  Make a dog (or cat) bed out of it!

I chose fabric that coordinated with the rest of the room.  Use a pillow case as a pattern to cut two pieces.  Baste one edge with right sides together to add a zipper.  Sew the rest of the sides, trimming the excess fabric so it's a tight fit.  Dog and cat approved.

LLBean's dog beds range from $49-$199.

Cost for mine:  $4.

Wooden Push Cart

To buy a quality wooden push cart online, it's around $100.  Yikes!  No way is this frugal mama spending that!

My wonderful neighbor gives us scraps of wood from the woodworking shop he works at for kindling.  Well, this particular bag of sanded ash scraps were just too beautiful to burn.  I think he said they were used for rails on the tourist trolleys here. It's safe to say he thought I was crazy for keeping these scraps.  But then again, he's used to me and on second thought probably wasn't surprised in the least.   Trash to treasure is my thing.  Bear in mind, I'm not a woodworker, so this isn't perfect.  But it's very functional. 

I found the scraps that were the right size for the most part, I only made a few cuts.  The wheels are from a plastic drawer set.  I thank my husband and a physical therapist co-worker who gave me some hints along the way.

And I made a kit for good friends of ours to put together.

Cost:  Less than $2.  We had to buy the right sized screws.

Baby approved.

Lady Bug Beanbags

Made out of felt recycled from plastic bottles.  Stuffed with black beans.  Great for counting.

Cost: $2.19

Doughnuts

So you've got left over mashed potatoes?  Don't toss them...make doughnuts!  You think I'm crazy, I'm not.  I have yet to find someone who haven't drooled over one of these warm.  This recipe is from ages ago, it was passed to my mom.  She used to make them for us on special occasions.  Now I carryout the tradition. 

Doughnuts

1 Cup mashed potatoes
1 egg
1 heaping cup sugar
1 cup sour milk
1 tsp soda
1 tsp baking powder
a speck of ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 T veg oil

Add 3 cups flour to make a soft dough.  Knead 2ish more cups of flour.  Let stand 10 minutes.  Roll, cut out, fry in the fry daddy.  Yum.