1st Birthday on a Budget Part 1

I realize that this post is more than 3 months overdue but hey a lot has transpired. We moved, Husband got a new job, I got a new job, Bear had a birthday, and we're expecting again. So there is a little slack to be cut.

So the Bear turned 1 a few months ago and did so on a very tight budget. Like most young families, we don't have an abundance of funds and that didn't miraculously change when the Bear's 1st birthday rolled around. We had to really think about what we wanted to do and how much we wanted to spend.

I started mapping this out and discovered that it was way to long for one post so I'll break it down into two. Part 1: Planning/Prep and Part 2: Party

So here are the guide so to speak of how I kept my son's birthday from start to finish for under $100.

Step 1: The Theme/Decor (Free)

I started planning my son's party while I was still pregnant. Call me crazy but doing so saved me some serious dollars when it came to the party. How so you may ask?
I saved the decorations from the baby showers!
We did an Arkansas Razorback themed nursery and so two of my showers were also Razorback themed. I saved napkins, streamers, wall hangings, stickers, plates, etc. Yes they took up a little closet space and yes my husband tried to throw things away a few times, but I hung on to it all! I also borrowed some decorations from the Bear's nursery and set out his baby book, photo albums, etc.


I didn't have to buy a single decoration and the space looked great.

Cute baby stuff

Banner from one of my showers

Pictures of the Bear over the last year

 

Step 2: The Invite List (Free) and Invitations ($11)

I know the tendency of 1st timers is to go overboard with the first birthday. Hey, I was in the same boat. If I could have, I would have gone all out and probably tried to get Tyler Wilson himself to come to the Bear's party (wouldn't that have been awesome)! But, again, reality set in.
Rather than inviting everyone we knew with kids, people from church, and every family member we could find, we kept it to our immediate family and a few close friends with kids.
I made the invites using a combo of stuff I already had and a few simple purchases

• Wrapping paper from a shower
• Brown scrapbook paper
• "You're Invited" rubber stamp ($6 from Hobby Lobby)
• 12 pk. of red envelopes ($3 from Hobby Lobby)
• 12 printed pics of the Bear ($2 from Wal-Mart)

Here's the finished product. Not bad, eh? (The blackouts were obviously not on the actual invite, just personal stuff blocked for this post.)

Step 3: Super Cute Outfit for the Birthday Boy

Just like every mom I wanted by Bear to have a cute out fit to wear. Something that had a "1" or "Birthday Boy" or something similar on it. Truth be told I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for so I just made it myself. I am not a master seamstress so I assure you anyone can do this. I took a white onesie we already had and some material that was left over from covering a footstool in the nursery.
I cut out a one and zig-zag stitched around the edge. Done!

That's it for now. Still to come are The Food/Cake, The Favors, and The Presents.

I'm glad to be back in the blogging world after my brief hiatus.

Brown Paper Packages

Growing up, the Sound of Music was my absolute favorite musical and of course one of the best songs is "My Favorite Things." Oh the wonderful things that come wrapped in brown paper and string. Okay, most things now-a-days don't come wrapped in brown paper. They come in bright wrapping paper, cellophane, and bags with balloons. But not this year at our house! We're kickin' it old school!

My first married Christmas I got creative and used newspaper and cloth ribbon for wrapping paper, but got busy and less creative the next two years. This year I decided not only would I get creative but also resourceful. Most of the grocery stores around here give you paper bags at the checkout. I had been saving them to reuse but then a light bulb went off. Ding! Use them for wrapping paper. Genius I know! So for the past few months I've been saving my paper bags and with all my Christmas shopping done (yeah, you heard me, done), I started wrapping today.

Let's go through this process together.

Step 1: Dismantle the bag. First remove the handles. You'll use these later for bows.

Then carefully take the bag apart at the seams. I chose to do this to save every scrap I could but you can also just cut it apart. No big.

Step 2: Lay it out and wrap up your gift. I highly suggest either turning your edges under so no rough edges or you could just trim up the edges.

Step 3: Make the bow. Take one of the handles and bend it the opposite direction that it was on the bag. This creates a loop. You'll need to smooth it out slightly.

Next place a piece of tape on the back side of the bow so that it doesn't show.

Now repeat this with the other handles. You can add as many as you like to your "bow cluster."

I chose to use four "bows." To secure them together, I took a small red ribbon and tied it around all of the bows.

Now all there is left to do is fancy up the bow a bit and attach to the wrapped package.

Step 4: Enjoy brown paper packages tied up with string!

All in all I'm fairly pleased with the outcome. If I had it, I would use wider ribbon to cover up the tape on the sides or better yet use the clear tape designed not to show.

I know it's early, but I'm glad I have my packages wrapped and under the tree. With the bear's birthday next week, I have to be on the ball with things so it will be smooth sailing until Christmas.

Check out my husband's lovely gift wrapping!

It's moose...or a reindeer...I'm not sure.

Trying out Deceptively Delicious

Okay so it's been a while (a long while) since I've posted. I was supposed to be doing a comfort food series which totally tanked. Oh well. We've been super busy around here but I have been trying new things, just not posting about them.
Update on the dress project: it's way harder than it looks to make a dress from scratch. I pieced everything together, thought I was almost finished but my fitting keeps coming out wrong. So this project has been put on hold until I gain more patience.
In the meantime I have been working on something a little less complicated. As a shower gift I received Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. Basically it's a book of normal recipes that add vegetable and fruit purees to normal foods. I've heard good things about it, so once the bear got big enough to start eating table foods, I knew I had to try. So far we've tried french toast, oatmeal (a big hit), grilled cheese, and mac and cheese.
The little man has really enjoyed all the recipes and so have the hubby and me. We've made the oatmeal which uses canned pumpkin several times. Yum!
I knew I wanted to start small when it came to purees, so when cauliflower went on sale I figured it was the time to start.

So here it is, my adventure into purees and the resulting mac and cheese.
The book outlines how to do the puree which is relatively easy so until I have pictures documenting how to do the purees, I'll skip this step.

Here's the mac and cheese recipe.
1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni (I used whole wheat spiral pasta)
Nonstick cooking spray
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. non-fat (skim) milk (I used 2% cause it's what we had)
1/2 c. butternut squash or cauliflower puree
1 1/2. shredded cheddar cheese
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. paprika
1/8 tsp. pepper

Cook pasta according to package directions. This is also a good time to defrost your puree if using it from frozen.

My frozen cauliflower puree. I used "Fresh Baby" trays but ice cube trays work too. Five cubes is 1/2 cup.

While the pasta cooks, coat a large saucepan with cooking spray and heat over medium high heat. Add the oil, then the flour, and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture resembles a thick paste but has not browned, 1 to 2 minutes. **Be sure to cook this the whole time suggested. I didn't and the final product tasted to flour-y.

Add the milk and cook, stirring every now and then, until the mixture begins to thicken, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the vegetable puree, cheeses, and seasonings, and stir until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth. Stir in macaroni and serve warm.

Final creamy product

A few notes, like I said make sure you really follow the step about the flour. All in all the little bear liked it a lot. I fix a lot of mac and cheese for his lunches so I'm really glad I found a recipe that adds a little extra nutrition.

You can judge for yourself, but I think he enjoyed it.

Comfort Food Series: Chicken and Dumplings

So to keep myself motivated to blog bi-weekly if not more frequently, I decided to do a series. And what better thing to write about than food, comfort food!

To start I wanted to do my favorite comfort food: chicken and dumplings. I think everyone has their own variation of this recipe and it's always "the way mom made it." So for me this is the way my mom made and my grandma taught her to make it. It's quite the legacy so you should feel honored that I am sharing this time-honored recipe with the public.

The way my mom cooks is by touch and feel and if she actually has a written recipe, the actual product is probably some variation. This recipe is one that is not written down or at least I sure have never seen a written copy. So again feel honored that you get a written copy!
Here it is my version of Chicken and Dumplings.


What you need:
Leftover whole chicken (still on bones) or 4-6 chicken thighs (raw or cooked)
3-4 cubes chicken bouillon
1 1/2-2 quarts water
Flour
shortening or fat from chicken broth (preferred)
warm chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste

What you do:
There are a few ways to make your broth.
1. Raw chicken: Cook chicken in water with bouillon in crock pot on low all day. Feel free to add your own extra spices such as salt, pepper, fresh or powdered onion. At the end of the day, remove all chicken (meat and bones) from broth and set aside. Run broth through fat separator or something that will remove any bits of bones/meat and allow broth to sink and fat to rise. Leave in fat separator or put in another container. Refrigerate overnight to allow broth sink and fat to harden. Meanwhile, let chicken cool enough to handle. Separate chicken from bones and store chicken. All this can be done same day if desired.
2. Leftover cooked chicken (my preferred method): Using leftover baked chicken, remove as much meat from the bones as possible without completely dismantling the chicken. Place chicken in large stock pot and cover with water. Add bouillon. Cover and let simmer for 2-3 hours until chicken and bones separate. Remove meat and bones from broth. Run broth through fat separator and remove usable meat from bones. No need to store broth if using right away.
*If you don't want the hassle of making your own broth simply buy ready to eat chicken and canned broth.

Now that you have both broth and chicken, get to work on the dumplings.
Boil broth in large pot. Broth needs to be a full rolling boil before adding dumplings.
Dump about 1 c. flour in a mixing bowl. (1 c. of flour makes about 6 servings of dumplings) Cut in shortening or chicken fat from top of broth and make a course crumble. (Using the chicken fat instead of shortening gives the dumplings more flavor and you use all of your resources). Add enough warm broth to form a soft, elastic dough. Dough will be fairly sticky. Put half of dough on lightly floured surface. Need very gently so that dough maintains elasticity and softness. Roll out thin into rectangle.

 

Using a butter knife, cut into 1" strips. 

 

Cut in half.

 

Gently take strip. Stretch slightly and drop into boiling pot of broth.

Repeat with other half of dough. Let dumplings cook 5-7 minutes in boiling broth.

To thicken your "sauce" take about 1/4 cup of broth from the pot and whisk in 1/4-1/2 c. flour depending on how thick you want it and how much liquid you have. Return mixture to pot and allow to cook over medium heat. Be careful not to keep on too high of heat or dumplings will stick. Cook until desired thickness.

And that's it. This was surprisingly harder to put on 'paper' than I anticipated. Chicken and dumplings is one of those recipes I grew up making and I've never really thought about how to actually do it. I really hope I haven't missed any steps!

*Next post: Hamburgers with homemade buns!