Free light smoothie day at Orange Julius

You will need to bring THIS COUPON with you to the store on June 19th 2009

Again that coupon is at http://www.orangejulius.com/downloads/freeCoupon.pdf

This coupon comes right from the Orange Julius website and it totally legit (Do I post anything that isn't legit?)

Enjoy! YUM YUM 

Make your own chocolate syrup

I find that this recipe impresses people. Maybe they figure that chocolate syrup is made in a factory and bottled, I am not sure but people are always surprised when I tell them I make my own chocolate syrup for a fraction of the cost of the store bought kind and is really easy. Funny thing is that I found the recipe on the side of a can of store bought cocoa.

In a saucepan combine:

1 cup cocoa

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups water

Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes stirring constantly

store in an air tight container in the fridge. Mine always gets eaten in about 3 weeks to a month so I am not sure how long this keeps for but I would guess quite a while because it's only cocoa/sugar water. 

I also store mine in an old chocolate syrup container I had left over from when I used to buy it. I wash it between batches though so it doesn't get crusty but you can keep it in any air tight container.

Use this as you would store bought syrup. I like to pour the fresh warm syrup on ice cream, put a little in my coffee, iced coffee or frappuccino, and even make chocolate milk and soy milks with it.

 

Make your own sports drinks

We all need to keep hydrated but store bought sports drinks like Gatorade are full of sugar and other things that are less than desirable.

I found this recipe in a magazine to make your own sports drinks this summer, and every other summer for that matter.

Mix one part fruit juice and one part water and add a pinch of salt

Yeah that's it.

After seeing this "recipe" (The quotes are because I would call this less of a recipe and more of a method) I decided to google "Make your own sports drink" and found many other recipes. Some called for tea while others called for juice. Some called for the water while others didn't. I even found one that added baking soda. The thing in common with all of them though was the pinch of salt. 

I think that you could make this with any yummy juice or tea you like, water it down to reduce the sugar content if you like but basically just add a pinch of salt to whatever you are drinking.

Have fun and stay safe this summer!

Make your own Cleaning wipes

Cleaning wipes are expensive but so convenient! 

Thanks to Organizedhome.com for this tutorial.

You can use any tightly sealable container for this. You probably have everything you need to do this in your home. I know I do.

Original tutorial is HERE

Wipe Out! Make Your Own Cleaning Wipes

Posted March 31, 2009 by Cynthia Townley Ewer

Who doesn't love commercial cleaning wipes? They're wickedly convenient--but also wickedly expensive and often contain harsh chemicals.

The alternative: make your own!

Homemade cleaning wipes are easy to make, economical, and contain only those cleaning agents you select.

Put homemade cleaning wipes to work for you in your organized home with our easy instructions:

Materials and Equipment Needed:

cylindrical plastic food storage container, 10-cup capacity
extra-large roll of paper towels
cleaning agents of your choice (recipes follow)
electric drill with 1/2-inch drill bit
electric knife
liquid measuring cups

Instructions:

In the garage or workshop area, place a small block of wood beneath the plastic food storage container lid. Use electric drill to drill a 1/2-inch diameter hole in the center of the container lid.

For best results, select an extra-large roll of good quality paper towels for this project. Less-expensive towels fray or shred when pulled through the holder; thicker quilted towels have greater cleaning strength and withstand more scrubbing. Even at $1.39 per roll, cost for homemade wipes will be less than 75 cents, not including the storage container.

Without removing the paper towel wrapper, use the electric knife to cut the paper towel roll into two shorter rolls. Save the second roll for a refill later. Be patient! It may take up to two minutes to cut through the towel roll and cardboard tube inside.
Remove the wrapper, and place one short paper towel roll inside plastic food storage container. Using a liquid measuring cup, gently pour one of the following cleaning solution recipes over the top of the paper towel roll.

You will need between 2 and 4 cups of cleaning solution, depending on the size and absorbency of the paper towel product selected. These recipes make about three cups of solution; increase or decrease amounts if needed.

General Surface Cleaning:

1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1 1/2 cups water

Disinfectant Cleaning:

1/4 to 1/2 cup pine cleaning solution such as Pine-Sol brand
2 1/2 to 2 3/4 cup water

Window and Glass Cleaning:

1/2 cup rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon white vinegar

Place the lid on the plastic food storage container, and allow paper towels to absorb cleaning solution for 4 hours to overnight.

Open the food storage container. Gently pull the wet cardboard tube from the center of the paper towel roll and discard. Carefully pull the end of the paper towels from the inside, where the cardboard roll had been. Thread the end of the towels through the hole in the lid, and replace the lid.

Pull gently on the exposed end to separate the cleaning wipe.

Tips:

As you use the wipes, they will begin to dry out, so add more water and/or cleaning solution as necessary. Allow wipes to stand overnight before continuing to use them after adding more solution.

You may vary the strength of the cleaning solutions as necessary for your household, using more cleaning agents for a stronger wipe, less solution and more water for a milder product.

Free Tim Hortons Iced Coffee

This one has been flying all over the Internet recently but the details are getting muddled up like a crazy game of telephone.

Just to clarify, it is not a free ice cap, it is not a large, no they will not just fill any container you have with free ice cap until the machine is empty (I guess you can ask them when you get there but my bet is that it won't happen). 

The free item is a small iced late.

For those that have not heard of this yet here are the details:

Enjoy a FREE Tim Hortons  Iced Latte!* Thursday, May 21, 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM Drop by participating Tim Hortons stores on Thursday, May 21, 2009, and enjoy a small  Iced Latte for FREE!* Tim Hortons Iced Latte is made with freshly ground espresso and served over ice.

*No purchase necessary. Offer valid at participating Tim Hortons locations in 
British Columbia and Manitoba. Limit one small Iced Latte per customer.

The official website is HERE in case you need to see it for yourself (I know I always do)

This is TODAY! So go get a free iced late!

Quick tip: Stir sticks

Today's quick tip comes from the Riverwood Church Community. This church is famous for having a coffee break in the middle. 

Yeah, these guys love their coffee!

Fettuccine noodles, broken to the length desired, make excellent stir sticks.

Check out this picture I took of their coffee display.

Those are normal, plastic, stir sticks on the right and the fettuccine stir sticks more to the middle. I thought the noodle would soften in the coffee but it didn't. It takes more than a little stir to cook noodles. Aside from the obvious cost difference with noodles Vs plastic it was also pointed out to me that noodles are biodegradable so it would be help with all of our carbon footprints.

Thank you Riverwood!

Spring cleaning party

I would not normally call any time where I clean a "party" but the great people at Simplemom.net have a step by step two week spring cleaning regiment with day one starting today.

I just learned about this a few hours ago and jumped on the band wagon. If you're like me and need a little motivation and lots of direction when it comes to cleaning you might want to try it too. 

Basically, Simplemom.net will post a new cleaning task (chore?) every day and a little motivation to go along with it. The idea is that by the end of the two weeks, with only a little work every day, your spring cleaning will be done.