How to Make Rainbow Tie Dye Cake Balls

I like my Dala horse shaped cake pan but given the limited space in my kitchen, I wanted it to make more than horse cakes. When I saw this tie-dye cake mix from the coolest and most talented cake baker in the history of ever, it came to me to use it to make a rainbow unicorn birthday cake.  (Disclosure: I am including some big bold affiliate links in this post for your convenience.)

Eat the rainbow!

Yea, yea I know. I usually bake cakes from scratch but in this case, it is a dairy free cake mix with vibrant colors I can only get if I buy an army of  cake coloring gels like these. I really wanted to focus on turning the horse shaped cake into a unicorn using licorice laces like these for the tail and a twist lollipop like this one for the horn.
Not to mention, I would really be nice to be able to eat a food allergy friendly cake at a birthday party – something I don’t get to do even on my own birthday. *sad face*

How to Fix a Broken Birthday Cake

The Best Ever Seasoned Salt Recipe!

It wasn’t hard to figure out that the secret to my favorite local Greek restaurants amazing French fries is that they salt the fries with seasoned salt instead of regular. So good!

Naturally I started keeping a bottle seasoned salt in my kitchen and used it to make baked French fries. Seasoned salt quickly became one of my favorite ways to flavor grilled and sautéed fish, burgers, and in recipes when I got stuck for a seasoning idea.

Until I read the ingredient label on a bottle of seasoned salt and found it loaded with an obscene amount of salt and MSG, depending upon the brand. Fortunately, with a bit of experimenting, I made a seasoned salt recipe with less salt in it that store bought, tastes just like Lowry’s Seasoned Salt (my favorite brand,) and is a whole heck of a lot cheaper to make.

Seasoning Salt Recipe

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14 Ways to Reuse Old Toothbrushes

Dentists recommend you change your toothbrush when the bristles start to bend, which means you’re going to replace your toothbrush about four times a year. That quickly adds up to a lot of toothbrushes – made from plastic or even bamboo – that you’re throwing away a year.

You’re also throwing away money because those dead toothbrushes can be useful around the house for cleaning things besides teeth.

14 Toothbrush Hacks that  Save Money and Reduce Waste

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11 Quick and Easy Recipes that Save Money When You are Broke

My family’s cooking style evolved from the traditional American big hunk of meat main dish with little sides of vegetables and potatoes to a formula of lots of vegetables, a starch, and a protein as more of a condiment than the star of the dinner recipe show. We started with Asian flavored stir fry meals being heavily influenced by my trip to Japan and Hong Kong and grumbling bellies demanding a quick dinner ASAP after getting home from work.

We quickly learned that by just switching up the spices and often the starch (rice noodles like these cook in 5 minutes flat!,)  brown and white rice, regular and whole wheat pasta, sweet and white potatoes) we could travel the world through our dinner tables using the same main ingredients. Cheaply and healthy and getting a gold star from my doctor when I gave her my food diary. (Disclosure: I am including some affiliate links in this post for your convenience.)

Not to mention, just using a handful from several bags of fresh and frozen vegetables in a stir fry makes them last longer than dumping the whole bag in a pot and serving it as a side dish (although I still do that from time to time.) The same thing goes for meat – or if you’re running low on meat to make a full meal for a group you can always add beans, nuts, or tofu to bump up the protein content, serve it on a bed of rice, and Bob’s your uncle.

I accidentally started saving more money on our grocery bill when I started reading the weekly grocery sale flyers like a magazine each week and buying my fresh fruits and vegetables according to what is on sale which is - guess what! – shopping and cooking according to the national growing season and super cheap.

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Mix and Match Instant Pot Minestrone Soup Recipe

The first meal I made in my Instant Pot was soup. (I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience.)  It really hits the spot on a cold day and is a fantastic way to stretch your grocery budget by using up all of those little odds and ends in your kitchen cupboard that aren’t quite enough to eat as a full meal on their own.

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Making minestrone soup is the perfect recipe for that!

This minestrone soup recipe is very forgiving if you don’t have or don’t like to eat some of the ingredients I have listed here. Traditionally minestrone soup was made in Italy with in season summer vegetables. During the winter I usually have a cupboard full of dehydrated vegetables (the downside to having almost no longer term storage space in my freezer) that I forget to soak before I can cook with them, which makes using them for Instant Pot minestrone soup ideal – no soaking necessary!

The same goes with dried beans. Thanks to my lovely electric pressure cooker (you can find more affordable options here if the Instant Pot price is out of your budget range) I stopped buying canned beans as a backup. I pretty much never pre soak dried beans either. I just chuck them in the Instant Pot and let them pressure cook with the rest of the ingredients in the recipe.
The only exception to not pre soaking dried I’ve found to that is dried chickpeas. Soaking chickpeas in water first means I can use the 30 minute Bean setting once instead of twice.

How to Make a Cheap Eats Minestrone Soup Recipe

KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer Giveaway!

People consider November and December the season of Giving.

Because I’m so glad you’re here and reading my blog, I wanted to show you my appreciation with this KitchenAid Mixer Giveaway!

That's right.

I'm giving YOU the chance to WIN a super fabulous KITCHENAID STAND MIXER!!

is stand mixer is a beauty, combining professional functionality with a silhouette. The mixer’s rugged, all-metal construction ensures durability and quiet operation, while the tilt-head allows for easy access to the bowl and attachments (beater, wire whisk and dough hook). Just think of all of the deliciousness you could make this with gem!

This giveaway is open WORLDWIDE to reflex my most amazing blog community that spans the globe and ends on December 4, 2018 at 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to ENTER NOW!

Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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10 Kitchen Tools I Rely on to Make Quick and Healthy Dinners on a Budget

Sometimes life gets busy and you don’t have the time to cook an involved recipe for dinner.
Oh. Hold up. That’s me. All. The. Time.

But even when time is short I still manage to cook a quick and healthy meal from scratch using my favorite tools, gadgets, and appliance. I don’t have a ton of storage space in my small kitchen but I rely on these kitchen tools so much I can’t recommend them enough.

10 Kitchen Gadgets I Rely on to Make Quick, Easy, and Healthy Dinners when Life is too Crazy Busy to Cook

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