Peanut Butter Pumpkin Greek Yogurt Dip

Okay it seems like the name of every ingredient is in the title.  It's football season and it sometimes gets hard to come up with something new for football Saturdays.  You also need something that is a little healthy as well.  So it wasn't Tennessee week so I could make an orange dip.  Can't have anything orange the 3rd Saturday in October. 

This dip is really good with sliced apples.  It would also be good with graham crackers or gingersnaps.

 Part of the reason I made this dip was I had half of a can of pumpkin left over from my waffles this morning.  If you search you can find recipes that use parts of a can so you do not waste the extra pumpkin.

 Start with 1/2 cup pumpkin puree.

 1/2 cup peanut butter

 1/2 cup Greek yogurt.  One of the small round containers is 1/2 cup.

 1Tablespoon maple syrup

 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix well.  It smells so good. 

Then cut up some apples and enjoy this dip.

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Greek Yogurt Dip Recipe

1/2 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup Greek yogurt I used vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 Tablespoon maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Homemade Kitchen Sink Cleaner

I found a blogger the other week that had lots of homemade household cleaners.  I have tried several and I really like them.  It's nice that you know what are in the cleaners and you can make the smell something you like. Another plus is that they are very cheap to make yourself.

Keep a large box of baking soda in your laundry room.  There are lots of uses for it.

Place 2 cups baking soda in a container that can be sealed.

Add 2 Tablespoons salt

15-20 drops essential oil.  I used Eucalyptus.  I like that smell.  It will open your sinuses up.  The recipe said rosemary but it isn't my favorite flavor.  I think orange or lemon would be a good flavor too.

Cover the container and shake or use a spoon to stir well to mix the oils in.

I sprinkled it in my sink and with very little elbow grease needed.

My sink became clean, with a good smell.  Store it under your sink and it will last a long time.

Homemade Kitchen Sink Cleaner Recipe

2 cups baking soda
2 Tablespoons salt
15-20 drops of essential oils in your favorite flavor.

Homemade Jewelry Cleaner

I'm back with another very helpful cleaner. This is a really good jewelry cleaner.  I was very impressed when I used it.  And it was very easy to put together.  I made a little more than the recipe calls for and put it in a plastic container to keep to use several times.

I bet you have all of this sitting around.

Start with 2 Tablespoons water

2 Tablespoons vinegar

5-6 drops dish soap.  Now I don't know about you but mine doesn't drop so just a little is all you need.

Cover and shake to mix well.

Take your rings or earrings.

Place them in the cleaner.

Set the timer for 30 minutes.

You need a soft bristle toothbrush.  Anything other than soft might scratch your stones.  You know there are some stones that you can not clean like this.  Pearls and opals come to mind.  Diamonds or other hard stones you don't have to worry about.

Take the rings out.

And using the brush, clean out all the areas of your rings.

They both sparkled really well after they were cleaned.  You could clean them every week with it this easy.

Homemade Jewelry Cleaner Recipe

2 Tablespoons water
2 Tablespoons vinegar
5-6 drops dish soap

Leave in for 30 minutes and clean with a soft toothbrush.

Reindeer Food

You know everyone always leaves cookies and milk out for Santa but we usually don't think to leave something out for the reindeer.  They work hard too.  So mix up a batch of this reindeer food and you will have some happy reindeer at your house.  But you better hurry, Christmas Eve is right around the corner.

I think your little "deer" at home will love this reindeer food.

 Most snack mixes will start with some kind of cereal.

 Melt 1 stick of butter.  I actually think you can use a little less butter or add a little extra cereal.

 1 cup corn Chex cereal

 1 cup rice Chex cereal

 1 cup Cheerios.  I used plan Cheerios but you could throw caution to the wind and use one of the flavored Cheerios.

 1 cup salted mixed nuts or you could use all of what ever is your favorite nut.

 Mix the cereal and nuts together.

 Pour the melted butter over the mixture.  I doubled my recipe that is why it says 1 cup of melted butter.

 Pour all around the bowl.  Toss to coat all of the cereal.

 Then spread out on a baking sheet.  I lined it with parchment.  Place in a preheated 250 oven.  I had two trays and I used both racks in the oven.  Bake for 60 minutes.  Every 15 minutes I rotated the trays between the racks and at 30 minutes I stirred and tossed.

 While the cereal is baking I mixed up the other items.  1 cup small pretzels

 1 cup of Boston Baked Beans candy.  This was hard to find.  They are also hard pieces.  So you might could find something to swap out or just not add this.

 1 cup holiday M&M's

 1 cup dried cranberries

 Toss all this together and wait for the cereal to cook and cool.

 This is after an hour baking.

 I combined all of it on one baking sheet to cool.

 Then added it to the pretzel mixture.

Then serve.  But be sure to save some for Rudolph.

Reindeer Food Recipe

1 cup corn Chex cereal
1 cup rice Chex cereal
1 cup Cheerios
1 cup salted mixed nuts
1/2 cup melted butter
Mix and bake at 250 for 1 hour

1 cup mini pretzels
1 cup Boston Baked Beans candy
1 cup Christmas M&M's
1 cup dried cranberries

Pumpkin Waffles

Okay so it was an open week for the Tide so no pancakes.  We had waffles instead.  I had a surprise in store that morning not just plain ole waffles but pumpkin waffles.  They were very good with just a slight hint of pumpkin and the spices that go along with them. Still had to use our football plates for our Saturday morning breakfast. 

See at first glance you would never know they were pumpkin.  You might can slip for good stuff in on your family. 

 Very easy waffles with bisquick as the base.

 2 1/3 cups Bisquick

 1 1/2 cups milk

 1/4 cup oil

 2 eggs

 2 Tablespoons brown sugar

 1 teaspoon cinnamon

 1/2 cup pumpkin

 Mix well.

 Put a little over 1/4 cup in the preheated waffle iron.  Mine will beep when it is hot.

It also beeps when it is done so none of that peeping and seeing if it is ready or not.  Add some syrup and you have a really good breakfast.

Pumpkin Waffles

2 1/3 cups Bisquick
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup pumpkin
1/4 cup oil
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs