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Luv Saving Money – Page 748 – Life on a Budget

Making Homemade Baby Food: Carrots

I mentioned in the last baby food post that I’ve been trying to make homemade baby food for my 6 month old daughter  I’ve tried her with a few things already and she’s done well with everything I’ve tried so far.  It’s always important to try one fruit or vegetable at time though in reading different expert opinions I’m seeing everything from 3-4 trials with each food to a few weeks.  I’m not an expert on that so my advice to you would be to talk to your pediatrician.  With that being said, my next trial was making baby food carrots.  

I chose baby carrots. I purposely chose certified organic baby carrots even though they cost just a little more than the other carrots just because I wanted to get the best I could and not worry about chemicals of any kind.  Still I washed the carrots first.  Some sites recommend using regular carrots and skinning, and chopping them up.  You choose what you want to use.  Just makes sure whatever you choose you wash them properly, skin them, and chop off the stems and ends.  
Steaming seems to be the most recommended method of cooking the carrots as it keeps more of the nutrients and things in the carrots.  So that’s what I did.
Once I cleaned the baby carrots I put them in my steaming pot. I had more in the pot then the picture shows.  I had steamed them and started scooping them out until I remember to take a picture.
Again I’m using my handy stick mixer for this but you use what you have: food processer, blender, whatever. You don’t need to buy special equipment.
I had to add some water to the carrots to get it to a good stage 1 foods consistency.  If you’re looking for a stage 2 food consistency you may not needs to thin them as much.  Using breast milk or formula is another option to add to it to thin the carrots.  
I had saved some of my baby food containers from when I had bought a few store bought baby foods so I just used them to store my homemade baby food in now.  I also have small 2 oz storage containers I use as well. Use what you have yogurt cups with lids work too.  
Once you have your carrots to the consistency you want you can divide it up into the containers. 
I used about a half a bag of organic baby carrots and got 4 – 2 oz baby food containers filled.  
Remember to label your containers what it is and the dater you made it.  Masking tape works fine or I have these awesome labels from Lovablelabels.ca that I use.  But whatever you have is find.  If you do want the labels I do have a coupon code for ANGIEBLB3 to save 10% off
The baby food is good for about 3-4 days in the fridge.  If you make a lot at one time be sure to put only a couple containers in the fridge and the rest in the freezer so they don’t go bad.  
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Memorable 1st Birthday Story and Smash Cake Recipes From Betty Crocker

**This is a sponsored post from Betty Crocker.  I was compensated with a gift card for this post**

I will never ever forget my youngest sons 1st birthday.  Mostly because of an incident that was upsetting at the moment but ended up being a funny memory we still talk about.

My youngest son was born 2 weeks after my niece.  1st birthday parties are kind of a big deal in our family.  Since the 2 were both born in June and their birthdays were so close we decided to have a joint 1st birthday party and have a nice picnic outside.  My sister and I had been preparing for the day.  We decided she would get a cake with a girl theme and 1 flavor.  Then I would get a cake with a boy theme and a different flavor.  We also each got a smash cake for our little ones.

I didn’t make the cake, I decided just to buy it.  $40 for a darn cake but whatever.  We got home, it was only about 2 hours before the party.  My oldest son was in the front seat in the passenger side holding the 1st birthday cake.  I told him to wait there until I got the other kids in the house and carried some of the supplies in then I’d come out and get the cake.  He said “No mom I can carry it” I said “No you just stay there, I’ll come get it”  Well he decided he was going to do it anyway.  He made it down the steps into our yard, made it the whole way through the yard.  Then he tripped on the small single step up onto the porch.  He fell face first and landed right on top of the cake.  I screamed!  He jumped up so fast with a look of terror on his face and said “mom I’m sorry I’m sorry”  I just started crying.  I had been so stressed about the party and that was just the kicker.  My son physically was fine but he was shaken up because he knew he squashed the first birthday cake.  I tried to call the place we bought it from but they had closed just about a half hour after we bought the cake.  3/4 of the cake was smashed.  Ironic considering I bought a “smash cake” but the one to get smashed was the big cake.   You can see part of the smashed cake in the picture below.

Then there was the moment we brought out the smash cakes for the birthday babies.  My niece tore into hers like nobody’s business.  My son picked at it between two fingers and took delicate little nibbles.  It was so funny.

Smash Cakes are a cute addition to a 1st birthday party and have become more and more popular.  Betty Crocker has a few recipes for Smash Cakes available on their site.

Smash Cakes

My baby girl just turned 6 months old.  I will be having a smash cake for her birthday too!  I was looking over the recipes on Betty Crockers site.  I’m looking at the water color cake.

I think it’s really a pretty cake.  Which one do you like?

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Awesome Deal on a Craftsman 68 piece Screwdriver Bit set (Think, nice Christmas Gift)

**This post does contain referral links.**

My husband has been wanting a good drill bit set for the drill his dad got him for Christmas last year.  Well I just scored a 68 piece Craftman Screwdriver bit set for $7.94 out of pocket at SEARS  and getting 7% cash back on top of that.

product

Here’s how:

–Go to ShopAtHome if you are not registered, I recommend it, it’s cash back shopping and it’s free.  This is where you will earn the 7% cash back for this purchase. If you are new to ShopatHome they’ll also give you $5 in your account for signing up!  Alternatively you can use BeFrugal and also get 7% cash back and they have the same coupons!

–Use the search bar at the top of the ShopatHome homepage and type in “Sears”  click the coupon that says $5 off $50

–Once you are on Sears website from ShopAtHome then search for this item #: 00934935000P you’ll see it listed as $22.99

–Select in store pick up if you have a SEARS near you so you don’t have to pay shipping. (Be sure to select the appropriate Sears store that’s closest to you.  Also make sure you’re logged into the Sears shop your way rewards

–Once you’re logged into the site you can also choose the “Craftsman Club Price” where it says FREE to join and it drops the price down to $12.50

The additional $5 off comes from either the $5 sign up from ShopAtHome or, I had a bonus $5 in my ShopYourWay Rewards so don’t forget to use your ShopYourWay Rewards if you have them.


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Recyclebank Points: Reboot Your E-Waste

**I will receive Recyclebank Points for this post.  No other compensation has been received**

Another point earning opportunity from Recyclebank.  You need to be a Recyclebank member to to earn points.  Membership is free, cash your points in for rewards like gift cards, coupons, and discounts on some of your favorite brands.  Sign up for Recyclebank here for free.

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Recyclebank Points: Small Room Big Impact

**I will receive recyclebank points for this post.  No other compensation has been received**

Another point earning opportunity from Recyclebank.  You need to be a Recyclebank member to to earn points.  Membership is free, cash your points in for rewards like gift cards, coupons, and discounts on some of your favorite brands.  Sign up for Recyclebank here for free.


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