Homemade No Bake Granola Bars

Take a look at the following ingredients found in Quaker Chewy Chocolate Granola Bars.

That's quite the list of ingredients in what is suppose to be a healthy snack if you ask me! Most of those ingredients are not even necessary and in my opinion, if you have never heard of an ingredient, not sure what it is, and/or have a hard time pronouncing it, how can it possibly be healthy for you?! I was determined to make my own granola bars for my family with ingredients that I already had in my baking cabinet. I used quick oats, rice krispies, honey, vanilla, peanut butter, butter, brown sugar, and chocolate chips.

These are SUPER easy to make!! Line a baking sheet with wax paper and set aside. In a saucepan over medium heat, add 1 stick of unsalted butter, 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup peanut butter, and 2 tsp vanilla until melted. Next, stir in 4 1/2 cups quick cooking oats, and 2 1/2 cups rice krispies. 

Press mixture into lined baking sheet and top with either chocolate chips or peanut chips. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Remove from baking sheet, cut into bars, and store in either an airtight container, or zip lock bag. 

Although they fall apart a little easier than the store bought bars, they are SO delicious! I had a hard time not eating them while taking pictures!! We have been making our own granola bars for about a year now and definitely will not be buying the store bought ones again!

HOMEMADE NO BAKE GRANOLA BARS 

1 stick unsalted butter

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/2 cups rice krispies

4 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

DIRECTIONS: 

• Line a baking sheet with wax paper and set aside. 
• In a saucepan over medium heat, add butter, honey, peanut butter, and vanilla until melted. 
• Stir in quick cooking oats and rice krispies until evenly combined. 
• Press mixture into lined baking sheet and top with either chocolate or peanut butter chips.
• Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. 
• Remove from baking sheet, cut into bars, and store in an airtight container, or zip lock bag.

Have you made granola bars or any other homemade snacks for yourself or family? If so, I would love to hear about it! If not, set aside 5-10 minutes to make these. I PROMISE you will not be disappointed!

DIY Wedding Card Box

I love DIY projects, so when I found out that one of my best friends was getting married, naturally I started thinking about all kinds of fun projects that I could do! One of the first projects that I made for her was a wedding card box. Do you have any idea how much some of these babies sell for?!! A LOT! 

Here are some of the inspiration pictures used for this project.........

This Wedding Card Box is $135

This wedding card box is $115

Or this one for $115



Or this one is only $113

While I appreciate that all of those wedding card boxes are custom made to order and very nice, this DIY girl could never justify paying that much for something simple enough that I could make myself, so that is exactly what I did! I gathered some supplies that I already had on hand and got my craft on!

Supplies used to make this: {not all shown in picture}

Boxes

Fabric
Tulle
Silk rose
Rhinestones

Adhesive spray

Glue gun & glue

Tape measure 

Pencil

Scissors
Packing tape

I started by choosing a couple different sized boxes and stacked them to get an idea of how it would look. The top two boxes needed to be cut to create the tiers so I measured, marked, cut, and taped them. I cut a hole in the top of the bottom box and a slit in the front of the middle box for the cards to go.

Next, I cut the fabric to size and adhered it to the boxes using an adhesive spray. The boxes were attached together using tape and hot glue. I tied a piece of white tulle around the middle box, and then hot glued a white silk rose to the top. I added the rhinestone around the opening where the cards go after I took this picture so you will have to just imagine how it looked with a lil' bling!!

I absolutely LOVE how it came out, but most importantly........so did the bride-to-be!

By using what I already had on hand from previous projects, this wedding card box cost me a whopping $0.00. These are the projects I love the most!

DIY | Homemade Laundry Soap

We have been making our own laundry detergent for about four years now and have been very happy with the results! It started out as an effort towards eliminating all toxic chemicals from our home and has also saved us a lot of money at the same time. 

I love making things on my own for many different reasons. This includes household cleaners, many pantry staples and foods {I will be posting more about these soon!} There are so many advantages to making your own cleaning products. Knowing exactly what is going into your products, the significant cost savings, and no harsh chemicals is just a few advantages. It is very easy to make your own cleaning products and most people already have some of the basic ingredients right in their kitchen! 

 

 

The three basic ingredients used are Borax, Arm & Hammer Washing Soda, and Fels-Naptha bar soap. You can also add an essential oil if you wish. I don't use it in ours as it has a natural, fresh, and clean scent without it. These ingredients can all be found in the laundry aisle at either Walmart or your local grocery store.

We use to grate the soap by hand but now use a mini food processor which is much faster! We have one that is kept with all of our laundry supplies and used for soap only. 

First, cut the bar of soap into small pieces. 

Add a small amount of either borax or washing soda to the food processor prior to adding the soap. This prevents the soap from sticking.

 

 

 

 

 

Mix all of your ingredients together, store in an airtight container, and your done! If you would like to make your own laundry detergent, here is the recipe:

 

 

HOMEMADE LAUNDRY SOAP RECIPE  {POWDER}

 

1 cup grated fels-naptha soap 

1/2 cup borax

1/2 cup washing soda

essential oils {optional}

Use 1-2 tablespoons per load {$0.03 - $0.06 per load!!}

 

 

It can also be used in front loading HE washing machines! Since homemade laundry detergent doesn’t contain a sudsing agent it is safe for a high-efficiency washer. For front-loading machines, use about two tablespoons of your homemade detergent and mix the detergent with two tablespoons of hot water before adding to the dispenser. {source}

 

 

 

Borax {source}

Borax, also known as sodium biborate, is a natural mineral compound.  It is used as a natural laundry booster because of it’s unique ability to clean, and bleach, by converting some water molecules to hydrogen peroxide.  Because of the boron, salt and oxygen in borax it is able to disinfect.  Borax also has an enhanced cleaning power because its borates bond with other particles to evenly disburse its particles in a mixture. It is best used in hotter water.

Arm & Hammer Washing Soda {source}

“In laundry, washing soda accomplishes several things. The high alkalinity of washing soda helps it act as a solvent to remove a range of stains, and unlike bleach, washing soda does not usually stain. It is also used in detergent mixtures to treat hard water; the washing soda binds to the minerals which make water hard, allowing detergent to foam properly so that clothing will come out clean, without any residue. Sodium carbonate is also used by some textile artists, since it helps dyes adhere to fabric, resulting in deeper penetration and a longer lasting color.”

Fels-Naptha bar soap {source}

Grating up a bar of Fels-Naptha, and adding it to the laundry detergent, helps eliminate residual stains. It works as a stain remover, for tough stains and oil-based stains.

If you have tough stains that don’t come out in the wash you can rub the stain with a wet (whole) bar of Fels-Naptha soap to get it out. Let it sit for a few minutes and then throw it in the washing machine and wash as usual.  A wet bar is also great for pre-treating greasy, oily stains, like perspiration and rings around the collar of a shirt.
 

 

 

 

Above photo taken a few years ago. We have made some changes since then, such as switching from liquid detergent to powder. All of these cleaners were made in just one afternoon! Many more homemade cleaning recipes to come.....................

 

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today I am sharing some Valentine projects and a recipe with you! I had planned to share this BEFORE today but I thought I had lost SEVERAL of my pictures that I had previously taken with intentions of starting this blog one day! My hubby went through about seven or eight hard drives that we have trying to find my pictures but no luck:( The other night he took the micro SD card out of the phone I had two years ago, plugged into our laptop, and THOUSANDS of pictures starting loading!! 2,676 to be exact! I know.....craziness! Oh happy day;) Ok....back to the post now! 

I wanted to do something fun and different for Alana's 'last' year of giving out Valentine's prior to going into middle school {you know.....because they are too cool for that kind of stuff!} I found this idea on Pinterest {how surprising!} Pop Rocks in a clear bag with a label that read, You ROCK, valentine!! Love, Alana. These free printable labels can be found here. 

Girls putting the Valentine's together. 

Alana felt the need to be on top of the table to work.....

How cute are these?!!

We also made some Valentine's Day Bark. Spread pretzels onto a cookie sheet that has been covered with wax paper. Drizzle melted white chocolate all over the pretzels, coating them well.  Then, decorate with sprinkles, Valentine M&M's and crushed candy canes (optional.) Chill in the fridge to set and then break apart into bite sized pieces. ENJOY! Source found here. 

Go here for these fun and free printables!

Alana made this box to put her Valentine's in. 

How did you spend your Valentine's Day?!

How To Make Homemade Butter & Buttermilk

Making your own butter is actually quite simple! All you need is one ingredient and either a food processor, stand mixer, blender, or you can use a glass jar, although the latter requires about twenty to thirty minutes of shaking by hand but it would be a great project to involve your kids in. Have them roll the jar back and forth to each other which will be fun for them and even easier for you!!

The one and only ingredient that you will need to make your own butter & buttermilk is.....HEAVY CREAM! Yes, that is it! I told you that it was simple. My hubs even questioned the simplicity of it when I told him about it so he googled it to see for himself!! I used a small food processor and one pint of heavy cream (I split this up into two batches.)

First, pour the cream into processor and blend on high for two minutes. You can see the cream separating into buttermilk and curds in the next picture.  

Next, pour off the liquid into a glass jar. This is your buttermilk! We made Homemade Buttermilk Pancakes with ours and they were delish! (Recipe to be posted soon!)

Add 1/8th cup of ice water, replace lid, and pulse four times. Pour out the liquid. Repeat this step once more or until liquid is clear. This is called the 'rinsing' process.  

Strain out all of the liquid using a strainer and cheesecloth. 

Add a pinch of salt or flavorings such as chives, garlic, thyme, etc. if desired. Wrap in wax paper / plastic wrap, roll into a log shape, and refrigerate until firm. 

I got approximately 8 ounces (2 sticks) of butter and 8 ounces of buttermilk from one pint of heavy cream which works out to be a $0.60 savings.  

Trying out our fresh butter on some homemade rolls. (He couldn't wait to bite into his!!!) 

What are your thoughts?! Have you made butter before or are you considering giving it a try now? Go for it!!