I'm switching my blog over to Wordpress...you can now find me at www.marvelousauntiem.wordpress.com

Hope to see you all there!

Keeping avocados from going bad

I love avocados. I eat them on salads, on sandwiches and occasionally just by themselves.

Aldi had them on sale this week for $0.36 each! I've never gotten them that cheap before. Unfortunately there was a 6 per person limit so I may have to go back in a couple of days to get some more. Especially since I found this method for freezing them.

So easy...cut them in half, remove the seed, brush with lemon juice and pop in to a freezer bag.

I'm so happy I found this.  I figured using lemon juice somehow would aid in preserving them since I've used it to perk up guacamole.

I love lemon juice...so many uses around the house.  Toss the halves in to your garbage disposal to clean it after you've gotten the juice from them.

How to save money on cans of beans

I recently spent a week at my niece's house and she showed me this neat idea for beans. She probably found it on Pinterest but I didn't research it because it was SO easy.

How would you like 16 cans of beans for roughly $5.50? That's only $0.34 a can. I turned 5 pounds of beans in to 16 bags to freeze and pull out when needed.  That is a savings of roughly $0.40 a can depending on where you live and what brand you usually buy.  At my Super Target the beans were $0.74 a can and $0.70 by using the cartwheel app last week...that's still a savings of over 50% and every little bit helps.

If you look at a can of beans, it says 1 serving is 1/2 cup and there are 3.5 servings per container...that means 1.75 cups per can. I put 2 cups of cooked beans in each bag so you could probably get more if you only put 1.75 cups per bag.

I got six bags of pinto beans (from a 2lb bag of dried beans), seven bags of white beans (2lb bag) and three bags of chick peas (1lb bag).

Here's what I did:

1. Soak the beans overnight according to package directions.

2. Drain beans and put in large pot with some kosher salt, pepper and a sprinkle of garlic powder.

3. Cover the beans with hot water, bring to a boil and then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1.5 hours.

4. Put in to freezer bags, I used a 1 cup measuring cup and drained the liquid when scooping out of the pot.

5. Let the beans cool then seal the bags and place in the freezer.

6. Pull them out of the freezer when ready and use them as you would a can of beans.

It doesn't get much easier than that.  An added bonus is that you can pronounce everything in the bag!

If you have any other time saving and money saving tips...please share your knowledge with the rest of us by commenting below :)

Ideas for shirt cuffs needed please

Today I finally got around to updating my Etsy shop and adding all of the hot holders that I had made for my last bazaar.  Feels good to get a variety of items listed...hopefully it will translate in to more sales :).  How cute are these for Valentine's Day?

I've also decided that I am going to give away a $25 gift card once my Facebook page reaches 300 likes...only 124 more to go!  Help me get there and then get in on the action.  Who doesn't love free money?  Plus I post there more than here so you can stay up to date with whatever fun projects I'm making.  Like this little wrap around pot holder...just waiting on feedback from the product tester.

I'm currently working on three memory quilts for a lady and her two daughters.  Her husband passed away after 45 years, 4 months and 1 day of marriage.  This was the first time that I have been to someone's house to pick the clothing up.  It was a very different experience from receiving a package in the mail.  She started to tear up as I was putting the shirts in my car.  I can't imagine how difficult it must be for her having her husband of so many years not there any more.  I'll be posting photos of the finished quilts on here when I'm done.  Right now I have 86% of the squares cut...now I have to piece together 31 more to make all of the blocks needed for two queen and one king size quilt.

I'm trying to think of something neat to do with the cuffs from the long sleeve shirts and the buttons...anyone have any ideas for me?