Idea Queen Tips & News

We all have our own ways of celebrating certain holidays. They all mean something different to each of us. It may remind you of family, friends, or other happy memories. No matter what, it’s important to celebrate special days in your own way.

That said, today I’m taking the day to appreciate the holiday. I’ll be working most of the day - but I love my job, so it’s not a big deal. It’s also a choice. I’ll be working on Thanksgiving pages, so be looking for the announcement of that tomorrow.

Before I started my day, I just wanted to make sure I wished everyone a Happy Halloween (or whatever you name the day)!

Granted I have not tried this recipe yet since I’m not a big fan of tomato soup, but it does sound good. If you have some tomatoes left from your garden, this might be a good recipe to use.

Homemade Tomato Soup Recipe

1/2 bushel tomatoes, strained
6 green peppers
6 lg. onions
1 lg. bunch celery
1/4 c. salt
2 c. sugar
2 c. flour
3 sq. margarine
1 1/2 c. alphabet soup pasta

Juice tomatoes, then chop and cook other vegetables until tender. Melt margarine and add flour. Combine all vegetables and add salt and sugar. Bring to boil and add combined flour and butter (blend with little soup). Combine all and boil 10 minutes. Pressure 10 minutes.

Over the weekend I picked up an ebook I’ve been meaning to read for months. No time like the present, since my oldest boy is having some problems with allergies, ear aches, and the like.

I’m not one that rushes my kids to the doctors with the sign of any little cough, and we have all done fine for several years. In fact, the current problems with my oldest stem from his dad rushing him to the ER instead of heeding my advice on how to control his ear infections with garlic oil. But I digress….

I finally got a chance to read this ebook, and it was fantastic! It’s absolutely jammed pack full of information on how to cut out the medications and start taking control of your own health. It focuses more on preventative measures than cures, which to me is more important. I don’t want to just know how to get rid of the ailment, but rather prevent it from happening all together.

Now much of the information I already knew, but that’s only because I’ve studied natural health since my first child was born. I guess you could even say my interest started long before that even, because my mom has had a water distiller since the mid-90s. Either way, this ebook is for sure with a read.  Did I mention it was free?

You can pick up your free healthy living ebook at Eve’s Best.

For kids parties, usually cake and ice cream are all they care about. But for adults, you may need something extra. Maybe a meal or just “snacks” to give the guests something to do other than chatting.

Now chances are you aren’t going to want a huge meal. If you want something more than just things to snack on, it’s got to be something simple. Chili, pizza, or other single dish items. If you want to make it a major dinner event, make it pot luck. No one person can cater a meal for large amounts of people.

For “snack” like food, you’ll still want something simple. If you have a bread machine, there are all kinds of different breads you can make. Meats and cheese are also a good option, since they are pretty simple to prepare (just slice and arrange!). Fruit is another option - such as apple slices, grapes, and non-messy items.

Chips of any kinds along with sandwiches are another option. They are not as healthy as the fruit, but usually a crowd favorite. Small sandwiches are perfect for smaller crowds.

The main idea is to keep it simple. You don’t want to spend your entire day in the kitchen or getting food ready. Make sure the focus is on the guest of honor!

Even though our apple trees around here are already bare, I’m thinking there may be some still looking for some apple recipes. I know I’ve yet to make my best apple pie, mostly because the kids ran off with all the apples we picked a few weeks ago. I actually had to go out and buy apples because I’ve been promising the pie for so long.

Anyway, pie isn’t the only thing you can make with apples. It maybe be my family’s favorite, but there are plenty more things to do. You could make apple sauce, apple crisp, apple jelly, or even just baked apples. As I mentioned before, I didn’t get apples to make even pie this year, so I haven’t tried any different recipes out. But I do have a hoard of recipes for just apples to try out. You can find some of them on our apple recipes page, or in the apple recipes e-cookbook.

Enjoy!

Again this is one of those promotions I just can’t ignore. You all NEEDED to know about it. This site is already pretty sweet, since you can get gift certificates to local restaurants for a serious discount. I mean that’s like free money right there - buy a gift certificate for $10, yet get $25 worth of food. How cool is that?

Ah but this deal right here is even better. From now until October 31st, gift certificates are 70% Off!

Just be sure to use the code TREATS at checkout to get the discount. Seriously how can you not pass up the chance to get a $25 gift certificate for only $3? Yeah, that’s major! So go see if there’s any of your local favorites offered. You might end up with a very sweet deal!

I realized today one thing lacking on Idea Queen is vegetable recipes. I’m actually very guilty of not serving vegetables as often as I should, mostly because I have a heck of a time getting my oldest to eat it.

This particular recipe is a favorite of mine and the youngest, who is an absolute broccoli fanatic. The oldest likes to pick the nuts out of it, and will sometimes “accidentally” get a bite or two of the evil green food on his plate. It’s hard not to because this recipe makes the broccoli taste so good.

I’m not sure where it came from, but it’s been in my “favorite book” for several years. If you find the source of it, please be sure to let me know.

Uptown Broccoli
Broccoli
Vegetable oil
1 med red or yellow bell pepper (we use green and it’s fine)
1 cup ranch dressing
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup pine nuts
Parmesan cheese

1. Cook broccoli. We put it in a covered casserole dish with water in the microwave until it’s tender. Start the next step while it’s cooking.
2. Heat oil over med heat, add pine nuts and peppers. Cook until pine nuts are golden brown and peppers tender.

3. Combine ranch, dill, honey, and garlic powder in a small saucepan. Heat until hot. Add the pine nuts and peppers to the broccoli, then pour “sauce” over top. Serve and enjoy!

My only complaint with this recipe is it makes three different pans/dishes dirty. I don’t like to do dishes in the least, so we don’t make this one often. I’m usually all about the one dish meals, meaning I only have to pull out one pan/dish. But this one is pretty tasty, so I bite the bullet and cook it once in awhile. It’s great as a side dish or even by itself (since the nuts add the protein, you don’t absolutely NEED a meat to go with it).

Tonight I plan to make do some tweeking to this recipe since I don’t have broccoli, but I do have some different veggies and the rest of the ingredients. Wish me luck!

I’m a big fan of handmade items (especially soaps) and other items made right here in the US and Canada. It was time to do some remodeling at another site (our first - Mom’s Market), and we decided it was time to put a focus on product reviews. Some were already on the site, and those will be slowly added back on. Other reviews will be brand new featuring products and services of special interest to moms. You’ll be seeing baby products, scrapbooking items, bath & beauty products, services, and much more.

Because of the new design and set up, you’ll be able to reply to each review giving your 2 cents on the product or service. Extra reviews are always good, right? No “start” system will be in place, but comments to the first review will be welcome. After all, we all tend to base our buying choices on what exactly is being said rather than how many stars it has.

If you have a product to submit, hang tight as we get everything set up again. It was a long and stressful move, but we’re getting there!

Christmas isn’t far away, and we could probably all use some help saving a bit more money. The first place you can start to adjust your budget is groceries. After all, that’s the easiest place to start because you can always take some shortcuts on your shopping.

There is a page on Idea Queen specifically for saving money on groceries, so I won’t repeat what’s already there. Instead, I want to hear YOUR best tips on saving money in the store. What have you done in the past to cut your bill down? Did you switch stores? Cut coupons? Switch to a cheaper brand? Let us know!

Post your tip here, or submit it using the form on the page that’s already there. We’ll be sure to give you full credit for your idea.

Can’t wait to see those ideas!

Last week my daughter and I got to take a trip to Carroll’s Pumpkin Farm with her preschool. It was an absolute BLAST, and I was SO excited to finally go. You see, this is the 4th year I’ve had a kid in preschool here. The first two years when my son went to preschool, I didn’t get to go because I had the baby at home. Last year, my daughter’s class didn’t go (she was in the 3yr old class, and only the two older classes go). FINALLY this year I got to see where it is they go every single year - and it was VERY fun!

Part of the school trip includes a free pumpkin. The smaller kind. I found out that day the smaller pumpkins are actually called “pie pumpkins” and are specifically for pies. This I never knew! Then again, I never officially learned how to make pumpkin pies.

Now since they gave us pumpkins, it’s only natural to give us some recipes too. One was for roasted pumpkin seeds (slightly different from mine, but obviously the same results), and the other for pumpkin pie.

The recipe calls for fresh pumpkin, of course. I’ve been told it’s always best with fresh pumpkin anyway. So if you are in or around Iowa, be sure to pick up some pumpkins from Carroll’s Pumpkin Farm and take a tour. Here’s the recipe:

Danny’s Farm Fresh Pumpkin Pie

Wash and cut pumpkin in half, crosswise. remove seeds and strings. Place in baking pan face down, shell up, in 1/2″ water. Bake in a 325* F oven for 1 hour or more, until tender. Scrape the pulp from the shell and put in through a ricer or strainer.

Ingredients:
3 cups cooked pumpkin (see above)
4 eggs beaten
1 1/4 white sugar
1/2 cut brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice (or nutmeg)
1/2 teaspoon cloves
12oz can evaporated milk
2 pastry shells

Mix together, pour into pastry shells and bake in a 400* F oven until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean (approx 45 mins).

Now I didn’t strain the pumpkin, but I did make sure all the slimy strings were out. Another tip I must mention - in order to get all the lumps out you’ll need to use a hand mixer. Ours came out alright, but the consistency would have been better if we would have used a mixture. The recipe itself though is WONDERFUL! I’m not big on pumpkin pie, but this one was AWESOME! The kids loved it too.