If you love the funnel cakes at amusement parks and carnivals, you’ll love this homemade funnel cakes recipe! We love funnel cakes, but they’re so expensive to buy. Using this recipe, you can make them for just pennies and our kids just LOVE them! They’re a fun summer treat and because they’re so quick, easy and inexpensive, you can make them as a treat for the kids when they’ve been out playing all day! (Or you might just want to treat yourself!

Homemade Funnel Cakes Recipe

1 1/4 cup sifted flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk

Sift together dry ingredients. Mix egg and milk and add to dry ingredients. Stir until smooth. Pour oil into a skillet and heat to 375 degrees. Holding finger over the end of a funnel, pour in 1/4 cup batter. Holding over the hot oil, remove finger and let drizzle over the hot oil. As batter flows, move funnel in a circle to form a spiral cake.* Fry about 2 minutes on each side, turning once until golden brown. Remove from oil and drain. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, glaze or nuts. Makes 6 cakes.

*If you find it too hard using the funnel, try putting the batter in a squeeze bottle (the kind you can get at the Dollar Store to put ketchup and mustard in) then squeeze the batter into the oil making a straight line and make sticks instead of the round “cake” shape.

This recipe is from our cookbook:

Click here to get the Dining On A Dime Cookbook, with tasty recipes and great tips to make your life easier and save you money!

Here’s a fun and easy homemade slime recipe that the kids will love! It’s easy to make and great for all kinds of parties.

Homemade Slime Recipe

1/2 cup white glue
6 Tbsp. water
food coloring
1-4 tsp. Borax
1-4 Tbsp. water

Mix the glue, 6 tablespoons water and food coloring until the glue is dissolved. In a separate bowl, dissolve 1 teaspoon borax into 1 tablespoon water. Add to the glue solution. You will get a very thick clump of slime when the two mix. Pull the clump of slime out of the glue mixture and put it in a separate bowl.

Mix another batch of the borax solution and add to the remaining glue mixture. Repeat until all the glue mixture is used (about 3-4 times).

With clean hands, knead the slime to get it to mix. This will take about 10 minutes and is not very difficult as the slime easily separates between your fingers.

If you desire a looser, more slimy texture, knead in a bit more water. The more water you add, the slimier it gets.

 This is great for Halloween entertaining. Store in an airtight container. This slime recipe can easily be doubled, tripled or quadrupled.

For more easy kids recipes like this that they are sure to enjoy, check out our Dining On A Dime Cookbook!

Homemade All Purpose Cleaner Recipe

1 gallon water
 Dawn dishsoap (2 tsp.) OR 1 cup ammonia
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup baking soda

Combine all ingredients. Put in a spray bottle to clean showers, toilets, sinks and counters. Great for most cleaning needs. Use all-purpose cleaner to clean your floors. Just spray on and wipe off as you would counter-tops.

This is not a disinfectant. To make it a disinfectant too I add about 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol  to the bottle.

Click here to get the Dining On A Dime Cookbook, with tasty recipes and great tips to make your life easier and save you money!

Kids love finger painting! Our six year old could finder paint every day and never get tired of it! Here is a quick and easy homemade finger paint recipe to make homemade finger paint with ingredients you already have at home! It’s a great indoor activity for kids!

Easy Finger Paints Recipe

1/4 cup cornstarch
2 cups water

Mix in saucepan and boil until thick. Then pour into a jar and add food coloring until the desired shade is achieved. Store covered in the refrigerator.

This Easy Finger Paint Recipe is from our cookbook:

Click here to get the Dining On A Dime Cookbook, with tasty recipes and great tips to make your life easier and save you money!

You can make this easy homemade drain cleaner and drain opener recipe with ingredients you already have at home an it works well for most clogs!

Easy Drain Cleaner And Drain Opener

1 cup baking soda
1 cup vinegar
4 cups boiling water

Pour baking soda into drain and then pour vinegar on top of it. Let it sit for 30 minutes. Pour boiling water down the drain. You may need to repeat this process if your drain doesn’t come unclogged the first time. This will clean out a lot of clogs so try it first before running to the store to buy a commercial drain opener.

Tip: Don’t throw away the baking soda used to freshen your fridge. Use it as a cleaning scrub or pour down your drain to clear clogs.

This homemade drain cleaner recipe is from our cookbook:

Click here to get the Dining On A Dime Cookbook, with tasty recipes and great tips to make your life easier and save you money!

Using this easy homemade flour tortillas recipe from our Dining On A Dime Cookbook, it’s simple to make yummy homemade tortillas at home using ingredients you already have in your kitchen!

Homemade Flour Tortillas Recipe

3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup warm water

Blend all the ingredients except water until the consistency of oatmeal. Add water and blend with fingers. Knead on a floured board 5 minutes. Cover, let rest 1/2 hour. Roll into 8 balls. Let rest 45 minutes. Flatten balls until very thin and cook in hot ungreased skillet until each side is slightly browned. Makes 8 tortillas.

This Homemade Flour Tortillas Recipe is from our cookbook:

Click here to get the Dining On A Dime Cookbook, with tasty recipes and great tips to make your life easier and save you money!

A Reader Asks, “Can You Save Money Making Your Own Laundry Detergent?” It’s easy to make homemade laundry detergent but does it actually save money?

Can You Save Money Making Your Own Laundry Detergent?

Janel from New Jersey asks: Do you know anything about making your own laundry detergent to save money? I have come across a recipe for Fels-Naptha or Ivory bar soap, Borax and Washing Soda. I like the idea of natural ingredients, but does it really save money and clean the clothes at the same time? Thank you…God Bless, Janel

Jill: It is a little cheaper to make your own laundry detergent, but only if you get the ingredients at a good price. It cleans as well as your average store-bought detergent. It is time consuming to make.

For the few pennies it saves you making your own laundry detergent, there are many other things you can do regarding your laundry that will save you quite a bit more money in the long run. We have a laundry detergent recipe if you would like to try it. My daughter used it for a while but, a couple of kids later, decided it was easier to just buy laundry detergent. Here’s our recipe and a link to a story we wrote recently along with some tips to give you some other ideas.

Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe

Homemade Laundry Detergent Video

Demystifying The Laundry Detergent Dilemma

What is Washing Soda?

This easy homemade garlic pickles recipe is a tasty way to use garden produce. These homemade pickles are super yummy and anyone can make them!

Homemade Garlic Pickles Recipe

2 heads of dill 1 clove garlic
2 Tbsp. pickling spices
1 hot pepper, cut in two
4-5  cucumbers, sliced
1 cup water
4 cups vinegar
1/2 cup salt, non-iodized

Mix first three ingredients and divide in 4-5 pint-sized jars. Add 1 piece of pepper to each jar. Pack sliced cucumbers into jars. Boil last three ingredients and pour over cucumbers. Refrigerate several weeks before serving. Makes 4-5 pints.

*These homemade garlic pickles are great with hamburgers.

Click here to get the Dining On A Dime Cookbook, with tasty recipes and great tips to make your life easier and save you money!

This homemade baked tortilla chips recipe is a great way to make less expensive baked chips and use tortillas that are still good but too brittle to roll!

Homemade Baked Tortilla Chips Recipe

corn tortillas
spray oil
salt
garlic powder (optional)
onion powder (optional)
chili powder (optional)

Heat oven to 275°. Very lightly spray tortillas with oil. Sprinkle with seasonings if desired. Place on oven rack and bake 20-30 minutes or until crispy. Sprinkle with salt and break apart into pieces when cooled. If you want more uniform pieces cut tortilla shells in quarters after spraying on the oil. Then bake on a cookie sheet. If you like flavor with garlic powder, onion powder or chili powder.

This homemade baked tortilla chips recipe is from our cookbook:

Click here to get the Dining On A Dime Cookbook, with tasty recipes and great tips to make your life easier and save you money!

One secret to cooking dinner in 30 minutes is to be organized and plan ahead. These ideas are easier than you think and can save you time, money and stress!

How To Cook Dinner Fast – Quick Dinners In 30 Minutes

Part 1 – Make Cooking Easier Before You Begin To Cook

Ever since the phrase “30 minute meals” came into being I have been confused. My children say I have always been confused, but that is an article in and of itself. : ) Anyway, 30 minutes is considered a quick and easy meal, but I always thought of a 30 minute meal as an average meal, which is why I’m confused.

Recently, I heard something that clears things up for me a little: The average family spends 2 hours preparing for and cleaning up after a meal. I just about had a heart attack. No wonder so many people are writing saying they don’t have time or are too worn out to cook dinner each evening. I would probably never go near the kitchen either if I spent that much time cooking and cleaning up.

Since eating at home can save you a lot of money, I came up with some tips that many fast cooks have used over the years. I hope these will help you get in and out of the kitchen quickly. Like all new things, you need to practice and make new habits, which may take time, but in the long run it will more than pay off.

Don’t worry if you can’t do it all. Just start slowly and go from there. Also don’t feel compelled to use these tips all the time. If you have the time, feel free to make more complicated menus. These tips are for everyday busy schedules.

Before Dinner

• Plan ahead. Most of you already know this but now it is time to put it into practice. If at first you can’t plan an entire week in advance, start by planning the next day’s meal the night or morning before. Meal planning doesn’t have to be complicated. Keep it simple. If you need more tips, check out our Groceries On A Dime ebooks.
• Choose 10 meals. Once you feel comfortable planning a day ahead, sit down and pick out 10 of your family’s favorite menus. Get your family to help here. A study I read showed that most families eat the same 10 meals over and over and are happy with that.

  (If you need some delicious and easy recipes that your family will love, you’ll definitely want to check out our Dining On A Dime Cookbook.)

  If you eat out at least once or twice a week (fast food, going to friends’ homes for dinner, church potlucks, etc.) the 10 meals should cover 2 weeks of meals. Repeat once and you have a whole months of meals taken care of. If you’re concerned that your family will be bored eating the same thing, think of it like this: The same meal will only be served twice a month.

  It doesn’t get any easier than following these easy steps! A whole month of menus is taken care of with just 10 menus. You may have thought you would have to sit and come up with 30 new menus at the end of each month, but you don’t. Don’t make planning menus so hard.

  If you find that you just have a mental block about menu planning or you just want some easy pre-made menus and recipes, you can get our Menus On A Dime e-books where we’ve done all of that for you. It’s much better to use already made menus than to give up and spend a lot more money going out to eat.

• Plan meals that only use a few ingredients and use common ingredients. The more ingredients there are in a recipe, the longer the recipe takes to prepare. Additionally, it takes longer to shop for 15 ingredients than to shop for five. If the ingredients are unusual, you usually have to spend even more time roaming the store looking for them.

• Here are a few recipes to help you plan easy meals.

  • 7 Meals That Take 10 Minutes – Quick And Easy Recipes
  • 10 Chicken Dinner Recipes for $7 or Less
  • 10 Crockpot Recipes Under $5 – Easy Meals Your Family Will Love!

• Do as much prep work ahead of time and not during the busiest part of the day – dinner time.

  • Make sure you have all your ingredients.
  • Clean vegetables.
  • Place meat in the pan so it’s ready to pop in the oven.
  • Make salads.
  • For recipes like biscuits and cornbread, measure the dry ingredients into a bowl and put in the remaining ingredients when you are ready to bake. Better yet, try to bake things like cornbread and muffins early in the day, not when you are trying to make dinner.
  • Make one dish meals in the morning so that they’re ready to pop in the oven right before dinner. Add a salad or bread and you are done.
  • Just putting your meat in the oven early goes a long way towards starting dinner.
• Use your oven or crockpot more and the microwave less. I wrote an article about how using your oven can often be faster and how it can help relieve stress at meal time.
• Start with a clean kitchen, clear counters, empty sink and dishwasher. You might want to check out my article Dirty Dishes Cause Debt to help with this.

Read Part 2 of this article here:

Dinner in 30 Minutes: Easy Ways To Speed Cleanup As You Go.

This Walnut Butter Cookies recipe is my favorite Christmas cookie! My mom made these every year as i grew up! I’m sure you’ll love them, too!

Walnut Butter Cookies Recipe

Fudge is my favorite Christmas candy and this is my favorite Christmas cookie. My mom made these every year. I remember getting up at 5 in the morning before everyone else to get ready for school. I would sit on the kitchen floor with my dog and  pop  one of these cookies into my mouth and then pop one into my dog’s. We both loved our early morning treat sooo much.

Walnut Butter Cookies

1 cup butter
6 Tbsp. sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup nuts
powdered sugar

Cream butter and sugar together. Add flour, vanilla and nuts. Roll into walnut sized balls onto a greased cookie sheet and lightly flatten. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, place on waxed paper and sprinkle with or roll in powdered sugar.

For more delicious quick and easy recipes like this, check out our Dining On A Dime Cookbook!

In this post, you’ll find great ideas and easy instructions for decorating Easter eggs including the traditional method, natural Easter egg dyes and other creative decorating suggestions.

Decorating Easter Eggs And Natural Easter Egg Dyes

OK, so the kids noticed on the calendar that Easter is approaching and they want to make a huge production of decorating Easter eggs. In the past, the little stickers you bought at the store sufficed, but now they want the real thing. Here are some old standards for egg dying with a few new ideas for you.

One important note: When the kids get really excited about egg dying, don’t feel sorry for them and pour the left over egg dye in their bath water so they can have more fun (no matter how much they beg and plead! Especially if it’s food coloring). Someone might panic and declare a citywide medical quarantine if they see your kids dyed all sorts of strange colors in their Easter finery.

Before decorating Easter eggs, cover the entire table with newspaper. Keep a huge roll of paper towels or rags handy for messes. Have each kid wear one of dad’s old (now disposable) tee shirts.

Making Easter Egg Stands

Cut toilet paper roll cores into one inch cylinders and use for egg stands. Decorate with stickers or paint.

Decorating Easter Eggs

Traditional Method

1) Hard boil eggs.

2) Fill several mugs with boiling water and add 1-2 tsp. vinegar.

3) Place a few drops of desired food coloring in each mug.

4) Place eggs in mugs for several minutes until eggs reach desired shades.

5) Remove with a spoon. Place on paper towel to dry. When dry, polish with a small amount of shortening on a paper towel. Buff until glossy.

You can draw or write on the eggs with a light colored or white crayon before dipping. The drawing will remain white after the egg is dipped.

To clean out mugs, put a little bleach water in the cups and soak for a few minutes.

Natural Easter Egg Dyes

If you would like to try decorating Easter eggs with natural dyes, try the following:

• Yellow— yellow onion skins, turmeric (1/2 tsp. per cup water) celery leaves
• Orange–any yellow dye plus beet juice
• Red–beets, paprika, red onion skins
• Pink–cranberry juice
• Blue–blackberries, grape juice concentrate, red cabbage
• Brown–black tea, white oak, juniper berry, coffee, barberry
• Light purple–blackberries, grapes, violets
• Green–alfalfa, spinach, kale, violet blossom plus 1/4 tsp. baking soda, tansy, nettle, chervil, sorrel, parsley, carrot tops, beet tops or dip yellow egg in blue dye

Hard boil eggs with 1 tsp. vinegar in the water. Place dying ingredients in non-aluminum pans, cover with water and boil 5 minutes to 1 hour until desired color is achieved. Use enough material to make at least 1 cup dye. Crush ingredients as they boil to extract as much dye as possible. Strain the dye. Most dyes should be used hot. Let each egg sit in the dye until it reaches the desired color. Some dyes will take longer than others to make the desired colored on the egg. Remove the egg and let dry.

Glitter Eggs – Place 1 tablespoon each of glue and water in a cup. Stir the mixture and then paint the eggs with it. Sprinkle with glitter. This can also add sparkle to already dyed eggs!

Decoupaged Eggs – Tear small pieces of wrapping paper, napkins, stickers, or clip art. Mix equal amounts of glue and water. Paint egg with glue mixture. Place paper on top and then cover with more glue mixture. Let dry.

Spotted Eggs – Place 1 tsp. of cooking oil in dye. Dip the egg. The oil will cause the dye to make an irregular pattern on the egg.

Waxed Eggs – Dip a portion of the eggs in melted paraffin or candle wax. Then dip them in the dye. Remove from dye. Dry and peel off the wax. The egg will be white on one half and colored on the other half. You can also dip in dye before waxing to get two colors.

Hollow Eggs – Poke a hole in one end of an egg with a very small needle. Poke another slightly larger hole in the other end. Then blow on the small end and the egg will come out the other side. Decorate Easter eggs as desired.

Do you need good but inexpensive Easter gift ideas for the kids? Here are 27 cheap but cute homemade Easter basket ideas to save you money this Easter.

27 Cheap But Cute Homemade Easter Basket Ideas

A reader asks:

Got any inexpensive ideas for Easter gifts for the kids? Also, do you have any ideas that would focus on the real meaning of Easter and not just bunnies and eggs?

Easter is a great time of the year to celebrate, especially if you have the hope that comes from Jesus Christ and His resurrection. Here are some ideas for Easter gifts. Try some of them and if the creative juices start flowing, make up some of your own! You might also try our Resurrection Eggs, which are a great idea to help your family remember why we celebrate Easter.

Easter Baskets:

You can find inexpensive Easter baskets at garage sales and thrift stores. I never spend more than .25 for one.

If you don’t have Easter baskets, you can also use:

• Plain wicker baskets
• Baskets spray painted an Easter color
• A cute straw hat
• A pail for the sandbox
• A bowl wrapped in tissue paper
• Paper sacks that the kids decorate. Cut out pictures from magazines or use stickers. Glue or stick them on and then paint or color around them.
• Any sort of plastic storage container. These often can be used later for storage.
• For a “family” Easter basket, set a nice plate on the table with Easter grass and goodies arranged on the plate or platter. This is great when you have older kids.

Fillers for Easter Baskets:

• Buy candy after Christmas or Valentine’s Day at half price and keep to fill Easter baskets.
• Make Easter cookies in the shapes of bunnies, eggs, crosses or any other Easter shape that comes to mind and decorate.
• Popcorn Balls or Rice Krispie Treats colored in pastel colors.
• String Froot Loops onto yarn and tie to make a necklace.
• Don’t fill baskets. Instead put jelly beans and candy in plastic eggs so the kids can fill their own baskets. You can also put nickels, dimes, toy soldiers, bugs, stickers, barrettes or hair ribbons in the eggs. Hide them outside or in the house if you live in a climate where it’s usually cold on Easter.
• Make coupons for getting out of chores, staying up late one night, having a friend over for a sleep over or a special dinner that they like.
• Include like new books purchased at garage sales or thrift stores.
• Homemade slime, play dough, sidewalk chalk, bubbles or the ingredients for crystal gardens.
• Wacky crayons? Crayon pieces melted together in a muffin tin to make a “big” crayon.
• Flower seeds that the kids can grow
• Mini-stuffed animals purchased at garage sales or on clearance the year before.
• Paper dolls or coloring books. There are many available on the Internet that you can print yourself.
• For teenagers, put these items in baskets: lotions, soaps, suntan lotions, fingernail polish, movie tickets, tickets for getting out of a chore, ticket for $5 worth of car gas, clothes purchased on clearance and of course lots of candy!

• Leave a trail of jelly beans or candy kisses from their rooms to their Easter baskets.

• Easter Kisses

  Put some Hershey Kisses or chocolate chips in a plastic bag and attach the following poem:

  This cute little bunny has hopped all day
  Been delivering baskets for the holiday.
  His paws are so tired and his little nose itches.
  He left you something special – something to fill all your wishes.
  These cute little hugs and Easter kisses.

• Put 1 Pound Jelly Beans into a bag and attach this poem:

  RED is for the blood He gave.
  GREEN is for the grass He made.
  YELLOW is for the sun so bright.
  ORANGE is for the edge of night.
  BLACK is for the sins we made.
  WHITE is for the grace he gave.
  PURPLE is for His hour of sorrow.
  PINK is for our new tomorrow.
  A bag full of jelly beans colorful and sweet,
  Is a prayer, is a promise, is a special treat.

• Easter Carrot Treats

  Buy disposable plastic decorating bags and fill them with orange jelly beans or cheese balls. Then stick some green Easter grass in the top of the bag (leave some hanging out) and secure the bag with a rubber band and then ribbon so that it resembles a carrot.

This easy countertop disinfectant recipe is a great disinfectant that can be used for most cleaning needs and it will save you a lot of money over buying it at the store!

Easy Homemade Countertop Disinfectant Recipe

2 Tbsp. ammonia
1/2 cup rubbing alcohol
1/4 cup vinegar
water

Put ammonia, alcohol and vinegar in a spray bottle and fill with water. This works especially good for counter-tops but may also be used to clean showers, toilets and sinks. Great for most cleaning needs.

Important tip: NEVER mix ammonia and bleach.

This Homemade Countertop Disinfectant Recipe is from our cookbook:

Click here to get the Dining On A Dime Cookbook, with tasty recipes and great tips to make your life easier and save you money!

Here’s how to clean a burnt pot or pan. It’s not east to clean a burnt pot, especially if it’s very burned and greasy but this method should help.

How To Clean A Burnt Pot Or Pan?

Mary asks:

“Can you tell me the quickest way to remove years of burned on grease on the bottom of my flat pan.”

“I’ve used Awesome, Scrub Free, and Dawn Dish Detergent (the one used for cleaning oil from the birds during Valdez oil tanker that ran aground in Alaska).”

“With the combination of the three, some has come off with hard elbow grease, but would like to use one product that would make it easier.”

Tawra: I am the queen of burning things. One time I even melted the tea kettle to the burner! No kidding, Mike and mom still tease me about it. I have tried over the years many things to save my pots and pans. Here’s what I do.

I wasn’t clear if you meant the bottom of the inside of a pan or the outside, so I’ll address both.

If you mean to clean the inside of the burnt pan, these two things work the best:

• Place a generous amount of baking soda (about 1/2 cup) in the bottom of your pan. Make sure it covers the bottom of your pan. Fill with water and then simmer for an hour or so. Most of the burned of stuff should come right off. You can do this more than once if needed.
• If the grease doesn’t all come off the burnt pan with the first method then I take a razor blade and scrape off the last of the burned on food. I scrub with an SOS pad and after that the pans are usually good as new!

If the burned on grease is on the outside bottom of the pan, then go straight to the SOS pad and scrub hard. Unfortunately, the only easier way we have found to deal with this is to buy a new pan, which was the first thing Mike recommended when he noticed “quickest” and “easy” in your question ;-).

Tawra

Here’s an easy homemade sweet recipe. You can save making a pitcher full of sweet tea for pennies instead of paying several dollars a glass at a restaurant!

How To Make Homemade Sweet Tea – Sweet Tea Recipe

Those of you from the South may find this post a little funny because sweet tea is an everyday thing in much of the South and some of you were weaned on the stuff.

There is a whole generation of adults, though, who don’t know about sweet tea because sugar was put on the “bad food” list when they were growing up, but surprise, surprise it is once again ok to use sugar in our drinks. Yeahhhh!!!!

Everyone is jumping on the bandwagon to buy sweet tea at the fast food restaurants and in the bottles. I cringe every time I see someone pay through the nose to buy sweet tea when it is so easy to make and costs only pennies for a pitcher full. Also many buy bottles of regular and green tea for the antioxidants. Be careful what you may not realize is that when tea sits it loses it’s antioxidants so making it fresh is best. 

To help you save some money on what may be becoming your favorite drink or what might still be an old favorite, here is my recipe for homemade sweet tea.

Even though I am not officially a true Southerner, I will warn you I drink mine so sweet it will curl your hair. You can adjust the sugar if you want, but try it this way first and see what you think. Part of the secret to good iced tea is having the sugar properly dissolved. Just adding sugar to regular unsweetened cold tea doesn’t get it completely dissolved, but there’s an easy secret to this dilemma when making sweet tea.

Some people make a simple syrup to help dissolve the sugar, but you don’t have to go to all that trouble because this recipe makes it’s own simple syrup with the tea.

Homemade Sweet Tea Recipe

2 quarts water
3 regular size tea bags
3/4 cup sugar

Boil part of the water (about 3 cups). This doesn’t have to be precisely measured. Just estimate using enough so that when you pour it over the tea bags and sugar, it will cover them well.

While the water is boiling, place the tea bags and sugar into a 2 quart pitcher.

After the water boils, pour it over the tea bags and sugar. Cover and let it steep for at least 5 minutes if you are in a hurry. I let mine sit for 30 minutes or more (or until I remember that I made it ;-).

 Then, gently stir it. You don’t want to break the tea bags.

 Add more cold water up to the 2 quart line. Chill.

If I will be serving mine over ice, which is the way I love it, I will only add water to the 1 1/2 quart line instead of 2 quarts.

Of course, after you try it, you can adjust the sugar and water to your preference.

Sometimes I will use 2 regular flavored tea bags and one flavored tea bag (like peach or raspberry). This adds just the right amount of flavor to it. If you like lemon, toss in a slice!

Jill

This homemade strawberry fruit roll-ups recipe is an easy to make alternative to store bought fruit roll-ups. Great for school lunches, picnics, road trips and more!

Homemade Strawberry Fruit Roll-Ups Recipe

3 cups fresh or frozen strawberries*
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. light corn syrup

Place strawberries in a blender and process until smooth. Measure 2 cups of strawberry puree. Stir in lemon juice and corn syrup. Line a 15×10 inch jellyroll pan with parchment paper. Pour strawberry mixture in prepared pan and spread thin, leaving 1 inch on all sides. You can adjust this to fit your dehydrator or another pan; be sure it is spread thin on the pan. Dry in an oven at 150° or a dehydrator for 7-8 hours or until surface is no longer sticky. Remove leather from pan while still warm and roll up jellyroll fashion. Cut into logs and wrap in plastic wrap. Make five 2 inch logs.

*Any other fruit may be used in place of the strawberries.

For more quick and easy recipes like this easy strawberry fruit roll-ups recipe, check out our Dining On A Dime Cookbook!

Save money on wedding food and provide a nice experience for your guests! These easy tips will help you plan your wedding menu without breaking the budget!

10 Ways To Save Money On Wedding Food

Planing your wedding menu can be a little bit stressful and very expensive if you’re not careful but it is possible to save money on wedding food and still provide a nice experience for your guests.

• Plan the time of your wedding so that it falls in between meals if possible. That way if your wedding is at 2:00 in the afternoon most people will have eaten lunch and will be leaving the wedding before dinner.
• Don’t worry if you can only afford to serve cake, punch, coffee, mints and nuts at your wedding. Having been a guest at many weddings, I have never given a second thought to what I was served. There is always that one person who will have something negative to say, but if you had had an expensive sit down dinner that person would have had something negative to say about it, too.
• Delegate, delegate, delegate. I could never have pulled off my wedding or my daughter’s wedding if I hadn’t had a lot of help from friends and family. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. People love weddings and usually enjoy being a part of one. Pick one person to be in charge of the food, especially for the day of the wedding, and ask others to help you to prepare it.

Inexpensive Wedding Menus:

I will mostly be giving hints for what I call a “finger food buffet”. Finger foods are a good way to save money on wedding food, making a happy medium between just cake and punch and a sit-down dinner. Be sure to pick things that can be prepared in advance to make it easier.

The things I list are just a few ideas of things that you could use for your wedding menu. Some wedding foods will be more expensive than others. Use only what will fit into your budget.

Large platters of fruit with or without dips

• Use in-season fruit that can be prepared ahead of time without turning brown. Strawberries, kiwi, oranges and pineapple work well.

Large platters of veggies with or without dip

• Check out a garnish book at the library to learn how to make them special instead of just making the usual carrot sticks. You can also serve olives, pickles, pickled veggies, etcetera with your veggie platter.

Sandwiches

• Sandwiches should be like “tea” sandwiches, with the crusts cut off and cut into shapes like triangles, circles or diamonds.
• Most sandwiches can be made way ahead of time and frozen. Spread each side of the bread with softened butter to prevent it from becoming soggy. This really works great. Wrap well before freezing.

Cheese and Cracker Platter

• Use a variety of cheeses. Once again, these should be cut into shapes like bells, hearts or cubes.
• Use a variety of crackers, too, not only in various shapes (round, square or rectangle), but also different colors.

Cold Cut Platter

• In place of sandwiches, you can have a platter of cold cuts (attractively arranged by rolling them up) and served with a variety of small rolls or breads.

Mints*, nuts or spiced nuts

Additional Wedding Food Tips:

If you want to go one step further than just finger foods, you can add in any number of different types of salads.

Everything you serve should be attractively cut, arranged on platters and garnished. You can buy some very nice silver or crystal like platters at party stores. Don’t forget to plan for decorations for the food table.

This all may seem like a lot of work but remember, you can do a good portion ahead of time, you don’t have to serve everything listed and enlist help. Also you can cut corners in some areas. For example I will be giving you a recipe for wedding mints to make but if you don’t have time for those, just substitute some of those pastel party mints that you can buy. In the same way if you don’t want the work of “tea” sandwiches, just have a cold cut platter.

      -Jill

Try this yummy Molded Party Mints Recipe!

Here’s an easy homemade fry sauce recipe. In some parts of the country, fry sauce is a popular dipping sauce for french fries, but it’s good on hamburgers and sandwiches, too!

When we moved there from Kansas to Idaho, we would go to a fast food place and they would ask us if we would like some fry sauce for our French fries. We didn’t have a clue what it was but we found out fast and it was delicious. You don’t need to use it just for fries either. You can put it on hamburgers too.

Homemade Fry Sauce Recipe

1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup ketchup
To taste; garlic salt, salt, Worcestershire sauce
Buttermilk or half and half* (optional)

Mix all of the ingredients together.

*If too thick, use the buttermilk or half and half to thin the fry sauce.

Why spend a fortune on a specialty cleaner for your outdoor windows? Here’s an easy homemade outdoor window washer recipe you can make for a lot less!

Outdoor Window Washer Recipe

3 Tbsp. liquid dishwashing soap
1/4 Cup Ammonia (Optional for extra cleaning power and degreasing)
1 Tbsp. anti-spotting agent (Jet Dry)

Put soap and anti-spotting agent into a spray bottle attachment for your garden hose. Add ammonia if desired. Spray upper windows and let them dry. This is for cleaning the higher windows on your house that you can’t reach except with a ladder.

For more easy homemade cleaner recipes like this, check out our Dining On A Dime Cookbook!