Making Something Out of Nothing

Okay, today I have a very simple tip that made my house a little happier... window writers. That's right, window writers. When I moved into the house I am living in right now, I noticed one thing right away: the ghastly mirror doors on my closet. They stared at me like some awful eyesore every time I went in my room and I had very little money to do anything about them. So one day I decided to be proactive and I went and bought some window writers. When I got home I drew a calendar on one side of the mirror with some drawn-on post it notes and spots for lists. On the other side of the mirror I write quotes (I call them my happy thoughts). Now my mirrors look a little prettier (if I could draw I'm sure I could make them really pretty) and they are extremely practical! There you go, tomorrow I will be back to tell you about a FANTASTIC comic book.

Homemade Pizza Pops

Okay, so I got this idea from a friend of mine and decided to try it out one night and now this is my go to recipe for a fast meal on the go! Pizza can be a fairly healthy meal option, but often the store bought pizza pops or pizzas have things in them that are a little troubling. I always like to make things at home rather than buying them pre-made at the store and so when I got the idea for homemade pizza pops that were quick and easy to make, I jumped on it. Okay, I'm done ranting, on to the recipe!

Take 2 slices of bread (now this is why this can be healthier...you can choose the kind of bread to use, allowing you to make healthier choices), spread some pizza sauce (You can just use store bought pizza sauce, but if you have a pizza sauce recipe, that would be yummy) on both pieces of bread. Next, add the toppings of your choice (again, you can make healthy choices and aren't constrained by the limited options of the store's selection, not to mention that you can make veggie pizza pops without your kids seeing the veggies they don't like) and finish the 'pizza pop' off with some cheese. Put the two pieces of bread together, essentially making a sandwich, and then put it in a sandwich maker if you have one. If you do not have a sandwich maker, do not despair, what you need to do is treat it like a grilled cheese sandwich and VOILA! Homemade pizza pops.

I loved it, it took all of 5 minutes to make, if that, and I felt very satisfied afterwards because it felt like I was eating an instant meal, but I knew exactly what I was eating and that I didn't need to feel bad about eating it, lol. Try it out and let me know how it turns out!

Mmmmm, Goodness in a Cup

Okay, so I have a friend who has been asking for this recipe for a while and so, my happy home tip this week is a recipe for a drink that we call Ginger Tea. This is what I make when I am feeling sick, tired or a little down ... basically it's part of my happy place, lol. It's particularly good for when you are sick because it has great healing ingredients.

Start by boiling 2 cup of water and then put in 2 tea bags (we prefer Tetley orange pekoe tea) to let steep. While the tea is steeping, heat (do not boil) 2 cups orange juice, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 tsp ginger and 1/4 tsp cinnamon (or put cinnamon sticks in afterwards) in a pot on the stove. Once the orange mixture is hot (steaming), take the tea bag out of the water and add the tea to the orange mixture. Voila! Ginger tea. Having a nice Christmas cookie with it would be great as well. It is pictured here with molasses buns (Look at the earlier post "Ode to my Nan Fradsham') and man was it a yummy snack!

I know this recipe is used a lot in our house and I hope that you can make use of it as well!