Thursday, February 19, 2009

Homemade Buttermilk

It is much more cost effective to make buttermilk at home than to continue to buy it from the store. I started mine in a pint size ball jar but now have mine in a quart size. Take a bit (1/4th of the jar worth) of store bought buttermilk and pour it into the bottom of your jar. Pour whole milk on top of the buttermilk. Close the jar and shake. Place the jar in a cool dark cupboard for 24 hours then into the fridge for storage. You now have buttermilk. Once I start to get a little low on my buttermilk I pour whole milk in the jar and repeat the process to keep it up. You need to pour it into a new jar or bowl to wash your current jar every so often to prevent strange things from growing.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

WOOHOO

So my goal right now is to be able to have all our debt paid off by January 1, 2011. I just got one of our cars paid off. I was able to pay it off in 3 years. This is such a great feeling. Too bad the car is going to have to be sold so that we can move to England. We still have 6 credit cards and another vehicle to pay off but this is a great start.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Vanilla Extract

I read many blogs on how to be thrifty and one thing that struck my intrest was making homemade vanilla extract. I couldnt find any two recipes that were the same so I guessed and made my own recipe. I used a 750ml bottle of the cheapest vodka that I could find. It cost me about $6.50 for the bottle. I found bulk vanilla beans at Whole Foods and paid $15.00 for a 4 oz sealed bag that had more than enough beans for a few bottles. I split 10 beans (possibly could have used a couple less) and put them in the bottle of vodka and have been shaking it daily for almost a month. It should be ready next week and it smells devine. I cant wait to make some homemade vanilla ice cream.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Swagbucks.com

Search & Win
Swagbucks...I do swagbucks searches everyday to earn points for free things. I have been doing this for less than a month and I have 52 bucks already. If I wanted to cash it in already I could get a $5 gift certificate to amazon.com. If you would like to try it you can click the banner and sign up for free.