All My Eggs

Living Simply and Frugally

Oatmeal Crispies

This recipe is very old.  It comes from a cookbook that was created as a fund raiser.  It is from the church I attended, in a small, wonderful community in Washington.  I raised my kids here, a place where everyone knew everyone else.  I hope that you enjoy it.

 

Oatmeal Crispies

 

1 c. shortening

1 c. brown sugar

1 c. granulated sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

3 c. quick oats

6 oz. chocolate chips (optional)

 

Heat oven to 350°.

With a mixer, beat the shortening, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until well blended.  Add and beat in the eggs and vanilla until creamy.  Add the flour, salt, baking soda and quick oats.  If you add the chocolate chips, mix them in now.

Drop on greased cookie sheet and press with a fork.  Bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned on the bottom.

Note:  my cookies does not have any chocolate chips in them, but feel free to add chopped nuts, chopped dates, dried cranberries, raisins or any additional item that you enjoy.  I also add about 1 tsp. of ground cinnamon.

This recipe makes about 3 dozen medium size cookies.

Great with a large glass of milk!  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

March 21, 2010 Posted by inonebasket | Food | , , | 1 Comment

Great Idea – Stock Up on Gifts!

After every holiday and at the end of every season there are discount sales on merchandise.  Never, and I mean never, pay full price for anything!  And if you can pick up something that you need, or you know you can use for a gift for someone on clearance, or at the thrift store or a garage sale, do it!

 

Gift Storage Box

 

I keep a box up in my closet.  A cardboard works for me.  When I see something that I know I can use for a birthday, special occasion, Christmas or any event that comes up, I place it in this box and put it up on a shelf in my closet.

 

Closer look at gift box

 

Now depending upon the space that you have and the conditions that you have to deal with to store extra items, you may want to get a plastic container to protect your purchases. It is not helpful to purchase something for a great price and have it get ruined.

Some of the things that I gather for this box are containers from the thrift store that I can use to put in homemade bath or food products, note pads, note cards, recipe cards and bath items are always good to pick up because you can make up a bag or basket for someone. I also like to pick up on picture frames, especially ones that I can paint a color that would work for the recipient.

This has saved me many special and ‘expensive’ last minute trips to the mall to get a gift.  I think it is a ‘good idea’!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheryl

 

March 16, 2010 Posted by inonebasket | Gifts, saving | , , | 1 Comment

Food Tip – Working with Dried Fruit

Dried fruit is so nice to have around for cooking and baking.  They take very little space to store and can add a lot of nutrition to your dishes. Here are a few tips that can make them easier to cook with:

1. If you like to use a food processor to chop your dried fruit, partially freeze the dried fruit before processing, and use the pulse button, with quick on/off pulses, to chop.

2.  To keep dried fruit from sticking to your sharp knife when chopping, sprinkle a small amount of flour over the fruit first.

3.  Squirting a small amount of lemon juice over your dried fruit before chopping in the food processor will help to keep the fruit from sticking to the metal blade.

4.  Before adding dried pieces of fruit to your baking, sprinkle with a small amount of flour.  This keeps the fruit from sticking together in your batter.

My favorite things to use dried fruit in is oatmeal, granola, muffins and scones, cookies and trail mix.  Also a great snack on their own!

 

March 10, 2010 Posted by inonebasket | Food-Tips | , | 1 Comment

Progress – Part 2.. Getting the House Ready

In the last post, I told you about progress on the house and some of what we hired out to have done by others that have more expertise in the areas of construction, window repair, plumbing and tiling, than we have.  This time I thought that I would share the things that we are doing ourselves to get the house prepared to put on the market for sale.

One project, that has turned out to be fairly extensive is to refinish my front entry door.

 

Front Entry Door - Partially Stripped

 

The door is oak and gets a fair amount of sun daily, especially during the summer months.  The sun damage to wood here can become quite extensive and although I did treat the door to a heavy coat of varathane a couple of years ago, I decided that it needed to be striped down and sanded and given a new coat of stain and protective seal.  So I have been stripping, and stripping, and sanding………..

This is where I am now.  If the weather cooperates this weekend, (I started this post on Friday, and the weather did not cooperate!) I should be able to finish the stripping and sanding, and have it ready for a good coat of stain.  We also purchased all new entry hardware for all of the outside doors and had them re-keyed to match. I will have to try to get to this door during the week after work I guess!

Other things we have completed include the installation of new landscape lighting and wiring in the back and side yard of the house, a new pump on our spa, a new reverse osmosis system in the kitchen (this was a replacement), new paint in the second bath (my daughter’s bathroom), repainting the baseboards in my bedroom, and some touch-up paint in the kitchen.

This weekend I did get my walk-in closet all painted, and cleaned up.  It looks so great!  One more project bites the dust!

Next weekend I am planning on getting my daughter’s room painted and cleaned out, and then we will be ready for new carpet.

We are almost there!  Yea!!!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a wonderful week!

Cheryl

March 7, 2010 Posted by inonebasket | Home Improvement | , , | 1 Comment

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