Cloth Diapering on the Cheap, DD-Style

Since I seem to be on a cloth diaper roll, I thought I'd write about ways to get your baby in fluff without breaking the bank. Since I don't have much of a bank to break in the first place, I'm kind of an expert on cloth diapering for cheap. If you've been researching this sort of stuff, you probably know that the cheapest conventional method is using prefolds with breathable waterproof covers like Thirsties Duo Wraps. Here are few other, more unconventional methods!

--Giveaways. There are a zillion cloth diaper giveaways across the internet that you can enter! Sadly, I haven't won one yet-- I've won tons of other random stuff, but not a diaper. I'm hoping that changes sometime!

--The Cloth Diaper Foundation. This site donates new and used diapers to families in need. I haven't done this because the applicant positions fill up super fast, and up until a few months ago, you had to return the diapers once your baby grew out of them (they've since changed the policy, so you get to keep them!). I'd rather build up a stash of brand-new diapers that will last through multiple kids, but this is a good opportunity if you're in a pinch.

--Sew your own. You can sew fitteds like the ones on my last post for super cheap. The materials I used were all free- some from my MIL and some from receiving blankets- but for the sake of argument, let's say you're buying flannel at $5 a yard. You can get three diaper pieces from one yard, which starts the cost at $3.33 per diaper. The elastic used is minimal (maybe 1.5 feet), and the terry cloth comes from old bath towels. I've been using cheapy Wal-Mart washcloths for the Snappi grip material (it works better because it's not so bulky as the bath towels). $5 for an 18-pack= 28 cents per washcloth. That comes to $3.61 per fitted diaper!

(and stay tuned for fitted tutorial coming soon!)

I'm also researching the cost to make a pocket diaper. You will need PUL (a waterproof yet breathable material) for the outside, microfleece or suedecloth for the inside, and something absorbent for the insert that you will stuff inside the diaper (microfiber, bamboo or hemp fabric, or a prefold). PUL is between $7.50-15.00 per yard. Suedecloth, which is cheaper than microfleece, is about $7 a yard. Both of these fabrics are normally 60" wide, so you should be able to get four diaper pieces from each! Let's say that you get a cute PUL print for $10 and suedecloth for $7. That will make each diaper shell cost $4.25. For the inserts, you buy an 8-pack of microfiber towels for $5. Since you need two towels for one normal insert, that will run you $1.25 per insert. The final cost of the pocket diaper: $5.50! If you want to make this one-sized by having someone like Convert My Diapers add rise snaps, it will add a few dollars to the cost-- a pricier start-up, but cheaper in the long run, and still less expensive than buying the diapers.

I really want to get a BabyKicks diaper
with my Swagbucks. *Droooooool*

--Swagbucks. For about 1900 Swagbucks, you can get a name-brand cloth diaper from Amazon.com! (if you don't have an account, you can sign up using my referral link and get me closer to some new fluff! :-D) 

--Helping orphans. Normally, I'm not big on buying from China. BUT, the proceeds from American-run Assunta Store in China fund a non-profit hospice organization for dying and disabled orphans. Since they are made in China, the pocket diapers are very inexpensive-- as low as $5! From the reviews I've read from independent bloggers, the diapers perform very well, so you can do both your wallet and your heart a favor and still get a good product.

So those are my oddball ideas for getting diapers inexpensively. Do you have any tricks for feeding that cloth addiction?

This post is linked with Works for Me Wednesday!

Use it up, wear it out: January Edition

January is always a very interesting time in the Downright Domicile. I don't know how we do it, because we don't spend much on Christmas at all, but every January since we got married, we completely run out of money. I mean, COMPLETELY. That first year as a newlywed, when Adam broke the news, my reaction was akin to this:

Fortunately, I'm used to being broke by this time, so my reaction this year went more like this:

Bottom line, I have to delve into the back of my pantry and get creative until next Friday. Remember back in July, when I did a Use It Up, Wear It Out series? I'm thinking of doing one again. And I am wondering if anyone wants to do a little using up of their own and blogging about it, because I would totally put up a Linky if you do! Well, I'll catch you later-- there is some menu planning to do!

Finding value in staying at home

Raised in a society where value is usually translated into money, I have days where I really struggle with finding value in staying at home and taking care of Baby D. Some days, as Adam goes off to a job he absolutely loathes so that he can kind of keep us afloat, I get a little embarrassed that I get to do something I absolutely love without contributing to the family coffers. I plan on at least teaching music lessons after Baby D starts weaning, but for now, I'm just working on getting an Etsy shop off the ground.

I know that I'm making the right choice, so here are a few thoughts that help me find my value on those off days.


*We do not have to pay someone to take care of Baby D. So my time is already worth at least $8.00 an hour. :-D

*Baby D is receiving wonderful immunities, saving medical bills, and getting some powerful nutritional and emotional benefits from full-time breastfeeding.

*The house runs more smoothly. The floors get vacuumed, the dishes get done, and no one has run out of socks or underwear since I came home.

*Now that I can stay on top of laundry, we save money (and Baby D's skin!) with cloth diapers.

*I left a crummy desk job that paid in peanuts. It's not like I gave up a great income or even a great career to stay home.

*I think for us, it all boils down to quantity versus quality. We choose to go without a lot in order to have a happier, less complicated house. Baby D has the security of never being far from a parent. I have so much more inner peace, now that life has slowed down and I can focus energy on the things that really matter to me. Now, if we can just find Adam a job he loves, we'll have the "quality" in abundance.


One of these days, we won't have to worry about the financial side of things so much. *crosses fingers* Do any of you SAHMs go through this? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts!

Quick Homemade Pizza

Hello, I'm back! I hope you all thoroughly enjoyed your turkey! By now, you have probably used up all the Thanksgiving leftovers (if not, you might want to think about, um, opening that tupperware), so today I will tell you how I made a really quick homemade pizza this past weekend!

The words "quick" and "homemade pizza" usually don't go well together because of two time-consuming tasks: making the crust, and simmering the pizza sauce. So here's what I used: for the crust, the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes recipe; and for the sauce, ingredients (with TONS of spices) that I threw together about thirty seconds before slathering it on the pizza.

Here's what you do: turn the oven to a very high temperature. I turned mine to around 450 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray, and then sprinkle liberally with cornmeal.

Cut a chunk from the Artisan bread dough and shape it however you want on the cookie sheet- round, square, rhomboid- whatever your fancy! Just make sure that it's thin.

Now, for a super-delicious touch! Mix a few tablespoons of olive oil with a couple teaspoons of basil. With a pastry brush, brush the mixture all around the edge of the crust. Voila, you now have a delicious breadstick-like crust! I keep meaning to try this with Parmesan cheese, but I'm pretty sure the pizza would explode from sheer awesomeness.

Now, for the sauce! Here is approximately what I used:

6 oz tomato paste
6 oz tomato sauce
1 T olive oil
1 T Italian spice mix
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
1/2 t. black pepper (I'm a pepper lover, so you may want to use less or skip it altogether)
Dash of salt (depending on your toppings, you may want to add more)
Water, to your desired consistency (don't make it too thin!)

Mix it all together, and put your desired amount on the pizza. Top with mozzarella.

For toppings, I used pepperoni, sliced Roma tomatoes, and sliced garlic. I wasn't entirely sure how the garlic would work, but it ended up being a most delicious addition!

Now, stick that puppy in the oven until the cheese is nicely browned. It took mine about 10-15 minutes.

I wish I had some pictures, but we inhaled it before I even thought of blogging about this. This pizza was even approved by a four-year-old-- the normally picky little guy ate two whole slices! Pretty good, considering that I stuck a cup or so of whole wheat flour into the bread dough. ;-) We ended up with a bunch of extra sauce, so I'm thinking of assembling and freezing some more. Eat your heart out, Red Baron!

And as you can see, cooking is definitely an art to me! How about you? Is cooking more of an art or a science to you?

In Praise of the Humble Flat

No, I am not talking about my apartment. The flat of which I speak is often the subject of scorn in its circle, frowned upon as a last-ditch effort of the destitute, and not well-publicized at that. Of course, I am referring to the flat diaper.

You won't hear much about the flat diaper. The overall vibe I get from the cloth diapering community is that the only people who use flats are either too poor to afford anything else or are embarking to a third-world country. No joke!  When I was first trying to make an informed decision about getting flats, there was little information to be found. Any list of the various diaper types I would come across would just barely mention flat diapers before elaborating on ALL the OTHER types of diapers-- as if flats aren't a real option.

Well, here is one person to tell you that not only are flats an option, but they are a great option! My current stash is a dozen prefolds and a dozen flats, but I much prefer the flats. Here are the reasons:

• Versatility. Flats are only as hard as you want to make them. If you want to feel like an origami master, you most certainly can find all sorts of elaborate diaper folds. Or, if you're feeling lazy, just fold it in halves or thirds until you can stick it in a diaper cover. You can make it fit however you want. These make wonderful gDiaper inserts!
• Drying time. Flats air dry beautifully! This is important to me, since I don't feel like paying $1.25 every time I want something dry around here. If I'm running low on diapers, I can count on having dry diapers about an hour after they're washed!
• Washability. Since they're so thin, they wash beautifully; I've heard that they almost never need to be stripped. They rinse out better, too. Oftentimes, between spraying the diaper and throwing it in the wash, I'll give it an extra rinse in the sink. Guess which ones don't release a whole lot of soap residue? You guessed it-- the flats!
• Size. Flats are the original one-size diaper. They can be folded to fit a baby from birth through potty training! My prefolds are already too small for Baby D, and if they didn't fit so well in the gDiaper, I'd have to buy more in a different size (or maybe more flats instead, ha!).
• Price. Okay, it's true that I'm fairly penniless, so I know all about diapering on a budget. If you are looking for a way to do cloth with the least damage to your wallet, look no further! I bought one dozen for $15. So theoretically, you could start a stash for about $70 (two dozen flats and three $13 diaper covers, which is what I used for the first two months)!

And what are the cons? Well, they are absolutely NOT dad- or babysitter-friendly. But, since I do 99% of the diaper changes anyways, it doesn't really matter. Getting the folds right takes some practice, but you are sure to wow the relatives when you whip one of those out and make some origami! :-D It takes a little more time to fold, which is not fun to do with a wriggly baby (I fold them to be diaper-ready as soon as they're done drying, so I don't have to wrestle Baby D come changing time). I also think they're slightly more difficult to spray than prefolds.

So. I love flats. If I think Baby D needs to go coverless to air out for a while, I reach for a flat first-- I know a fold that puts a gazillion layers between Baby D and the floor. You would think that a flat wouldn't be very absorbent because it's so thin, but once you get a few layers going, it's just as absorbent if not more than a prefold! So that's why I love my flat diapers. As does Baby D:

Many thanks to my cute little model!

Homemade gDiaper Insert Tutorial

This post was a little longer in coming than I wanted. The past couple of nights, we've been transitioning Baby D from sleeping with us in the big(ish) bed to slumbering in the co-sleeper. He is literally ONE FOOT away from where he used to be, but the move has transformed him from a baby happily sleeping three- or four-hour stretches into a little guy who is waking up every hour and a half. UGH. So I've been feeling a little zombie-like, and not inclined to blog. But here I am, so let's get started!


Because of my apartment situation, I need two qualities in a soaker: the ability to be cleaned with one wash cycle, and the ability to air-dry well. I also wanted as little bulk as possible. Picky, picky! Most of the tutorials I found involved several layers of an absorbent fabric encased in an outer layer of fleece, which made me a little nervous about both the cleaning and the drying aspects.

So here's the design that I came up with.

Materials needed:

• Fleece
• Microfiber (I used those cleaning cloths found in the auto section at Wal-Mart)
• Scissors
• Thread
• Sewing machine (you could do it by hand; it will just fall apart sooner)

Step 1: Cut the fabric. You will need one 15x7 piece of fleece and four 13x5 pieces of microfiber. I apologize in advance for any eye injuries caused by looking at my fleece. That's just what I had in the closet!

Step 2: Stack all four microfiber pieces on top of each other, then center that on top of the fleece. Pin in place.

Step 3: Mark a line in the middle the top layer of microfiber, lengthwise (2.5 inches from the long edges).

Step 4: Stitch along the line.

Well, that was easy, wasn't it? You now have a new soaker! The microfiber should have a lot of free flaps, for easier washing and drying, like this:

Be sure that the fleece is the part touching baby's bottom. Microfiber will wreak havoc with baby skin!

And, of course, we need a practical demonstration! :-D :-D :-D

The 8-pack of microfiber cloths cost me five dollars, and it yielded four inserts' worth. The fleece, which I dug out of the closet, was free! Final cost: $1.25 --compared to $5 for one gDiaper-brand insert!

P.S. My cousin Rachel suggested also using prefolds as inserts. I tried this out using my small prefolds, and it worked just great! I am jazzed to be able to keep using the prefolds after Baby D outgrows their conventional use; plus, he will continue to have natural cotton against his skin-- that was my one misgiving about using fleece. But I still plan on using these liners for nighttime diapering, because the microfiber is super-absorbent, and the fleece wicks away that moisture from the skin!

So I bought some gDiapers...

Since Baby D is gearing up to move into the next diaper size, I've been spending many pleasurable moments poring over cloth diapers on the web, deciding what design I might want to try next. Cloth diapering is a sickness, I tell you. You love the feel and the way they look on your progeny's cute little tushie, you get really excited over new designs, and you just want to collect them all!!! In that way, it's kind of like Pokemon.

So when I found myself at Babies 'R Us, holding a gift card from a dear friend, and staring at a sale for a two-pack of gDiapers, I thought, What the hey, and bought them with a pack of flushable inserts.

Well, let me tell you, I am pretty impressed with the gDiapers! I really love the option of switching between cloth and disposable inserts (which will be most handy when we visit family for the holidays), and how easy it was for Hubby to figure out. Anything that results in ME changing fewer diapers is totally on my approved list! :-D The diaper itself is made from a soft jersey cotton, so it's more like wearing a pair of undies than a diaper. They are very cute, feel more organic than conventional cloth diapers, and have less bulk, as well. I am really enjoying them, and am considering making gDiapers my main diaper system for Baby D's impending size change (I bought size Medium, which fits from 13-28 pounds, so he's already fitting into them. Good gravy, what am I feeding that boy?!).

But I have two beefs with gDiapers. First, the Aplix tabs are very inconveniently placed in the back. Which means that anytime I put the diaper on, I have to roll a wiggling Baby D one way, fiddle around the back, and then roll him the other way, and fiddle around the back again. Really, guys? Getting the tabs away from little hands is a great idea and all, but the adult hands kind of need to reach them, too!

The second beef is that you have to purchase additional (expensive!) parts for this system. The two-pack came with three liners, but I'm finding that I will need to purchase a six-pack of additional liners, especially if I go whole-hog with the gDiapers. And according to the manufacturer, the liners only last about six months, or one hundred washes, so I'd need to restock at some point, assuming that Baby D hasn't expanded to the size of a small gorilla in six months. You never know.

You also need to buy either the flushable inserts or the cloth inserts. Well, the flushables are a great way to go bankrupt fast ($15 for a 32-pack! Oh, the price of convenience!), so naturally, I wanted to buy the cloth inserts. Until I saw the price tag.

A six-pack for $30?!!!

"Geez Louise!" I said to myself, standing in Babies R' Us. "There HAS to be a way to make these at home!"

And guess what? There was. Stay tuned next time to see how I made one insert for $1.25!

WFMW: Cheap, Cheap Art for Baby's Brain

As a new parent, I keep hearing from all sides how babies really benefit from visual stimulation in the early months. According to experts, the best artwork for baby's brain is black-and-white patterns: broad stripes, checkerboards, bulls-eyes, et cetera.

As a young parent, I am flat broke. As much as I would love to buy up all the art that will certainly make my kid a genius, all of my money has to go towards other things, like, you know, rent and stuff!

There is a whiteboard hanging above our desk-- I mean, changing station, for those To-Do lists I love to make. Tonight, in a flash of inspiration, I grabbed a black marker and drew a pattern. Voila, instant art!

Baby D loves checking it out!

Cheap ways to grow baby's brain: that definitely Works For Me!

Adventures in Hairdressing

One aspect of pregnancy that I was not prepared for was the number that it does on your hair. My mom says that her hair lost its curl when she got pregnant, so I always assumed that's just what would happen to me. Well, nine months later, I still have plenty of curl, but almost as soon as those blue lines showed up on the pregnancy test, my hair became extremely coarse and easily tangled into large rat's nests-- not such a great thing for nearly waist-length hair!

Having suffered several traumatic haircuts from hairstylists who have no clue how to cut curly hair, and also being a cheapskate, I procrastinated on getting a haircut for a very long time... until I read about Cool Mum's success with cutting her own hair. The heavens opened and angels sang, "Chop it offffffff.... chop it offffff....."

I figured, why spend money to get a bad haircut when I could get the exact same results at home?

So I bought a quality pair of hair shears for $14 (still less than the cost of a haircut) and took a deep breath! Following the advice of this post on cutting your own hair, I pulled it all back in a ponytail and started snipping away. About halfway through, I got nervous about getting an even cut, so I asked Adam to finish it. Poor guy! I don't know why I thought asking someone with absolutely no experience in women's hair was a good idea. When the ponytail was gone, and I turned around to face the mirror, the ending side was at least an inch shorter than the starting side. Whoops! But I actually really like the shorter length, so Adam is saved from sleeping on the couch. ;-)

The site I just mentioned says to make layers by pulling all the hair into a high ponytail and cutting some length off that, but since I part my hair on the side, it made for some funny-looking layers. So, I just pulled sections all around my part and shortened them to roughly the same length.

Overall, I'm pleased with the way it turned out. There are some litle goofy parts to my haircut, but the price was right!

I will never get those Myspace poses down. :-P

Here's a side-ish view!

I lost a good nine or so inches of hair!

Let me tell you, the absence of hair on my neck is feeling p-r-e-t-t-y good in this 100+ degree heat wave we've been having. And- the best part of all- there are no more tangles!!! I seriously did not care what my hair looked like, just as long as it would stop tangling! So I'm happy with it-- perhaps you could call it shear delight? ;-)

Use It Up, Wear It Out: Coffee Beans (Day 6)

I had a seven-month-old bag of coffee in the pantry. Baby D. thought that it'd be fun to wait to slam me with morning sickness until the day after I bought this bag. I didn't touch coffee for two months, and by that time, the coffee was too old for this picky Washingtonian to drink.

There were some significant obstacles to finding a good recipe to use this stuff up. First, the majority of coffee recipes are for drinks, but the last thing this pregger needs is more coffee to drink. Second, most recipes called for chocolate chips or squares. Spare chocolate just lying around? In THIS house? I had baking cocoa, and that was it. Third, a lot of coffee recipes call for instant coffee-- you know, the kind that will dissolve and not leave scary chunks in your food.

Well, if you can't eat it... why not wear it?

Enter Coffee Body Scrub!

I found the recipe here, but to save you some time, I'll just list the ingredients on this page:

• 3/4 cup ground Coffee Beans
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 2 tbsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/3 cup Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp Ground Cloves

Let me tell you right off the bat, that is not enough liquid for this recipe. When all was said and done, I used 1 T. olive oil, 2 T. vanilla, and 2 T. canola oil-- and I'm still not satisfied, but I need the rest of my oil to actually cook with.


The verdict: this stuff smells soooo good! It was a pleasant wake-up call! Everything was great in the shower, except for one unforeseen problem: the finer coffee grains stuck to my skin with the oils, giving me a lovely just-stepped-out-of-the-coal-mine look. I had to wash it all off with my regular soap, which I hated to do-- why did I have to wash myself twice?

But, according to several sites, this coffee scrub is supposed to help with cellulite. Great! Now, if I could just find a scrub that helps with stretch marks...

**************************

Okay, if you insist on an edible recipe, I did make one of those, too. You know that cooking is a real love when you cook just because!

The recipe is Espresso Biscotti from the cookbook Extraordinary Meals from Ordinary Ingredients by Reader's Digest.

First, you mix all the ingredients (including three tablespoons of ground coffee), and shape it into a log.

Ummm... I hope it tastes better than it looks...



You bake it once,

...And then slice it up. Here's where I had trouble, because this bread was CRUMBLY! I tried four different knives before I finally gave up and just blew through it. You can see one of the slices that got destroyed on the near end of the cookie sheet.

It still tasted good, though! ;-) After a second baking, it seemed to hold together better.

The girls at the office obligingly tasted it for me today, and declared it to be delicious! My advice: don't make this stuff right before bed, unless you want to be awake half the night. This is the voice of experience speaking.


And that is Day 6 of the Use It Up, Wear It Out Challenge! One more day to go-- I wonder what I'll make?

Use It Up, Wear It Out: TOO... MUCH... FOOD!!!

We are drowning in food here! On the Fourth of July, I cleaned out the refrigerator, nearly emptying it in the process. One week later, it is busting at the seams, in spite of me hardly buying anything at all this week! We're still working on the 15 Bean Soup and the pupusas, as well as other bulk items like homemade yogurt and 5-minute Artisan bread, so I am loathe to make more stuff until there's more room in the fridge.

That being said, I'm still going to do seven days of Use It Up, Wear It Out; it just might be stretched over nine days or so. Since the whole point of this was to save money, I can't justify making all this stuff just for the sake of cooking, and then letting it go bad in the fridge!

On a very nice related note, I was able to stick to my budget of $15 for all work-related food expenses- including snacks and lunches!- for the week. Any of you coworkers who read this and know how much I pack away every day will think I'm joking, but it's true! I am amazed at how leftovers can REALLY save you money in the lunch department.

Well, it's about time to stop writing and start thinking about other stuff that needs to get done around here. Hope you had a great weekend!

Use It Up, Wear It Out: Jello (Day 5)

Last night's cooking endeavor was less than stellar. It was the first Friday night that Adam and I have both been off work in a long time, so we made it Date Night. Through three years of college, Friday night was always date night, but for the past couple years, work schedules have kind of blown that out of the water. So it was fun to revive the tradition for an evening!

Since we're still working on eating the 15 Bean Soup and the Pupusas, I wanted to make a more dessert-y item. After some digging in the pantry and a consultation with Recipezaar, I found this:

I was going to make this jello-applesauce recipe. It requires that the jello set in the refrigerator for an hour before mixing in the applesauce. However, when the hour came up, we were in the middle of a movie, and I didn't feel like holding up the show just to stir in a quarter cup of applesauce. Wouldn't want to interrupt all that romance generated by watching Lion King 1 1/2, right? ;-)


So I just ended up with a plain old bucket of grape-flavored Jello. Since I don't like artificial grape flavor (reminds me too much of the children's Tylenol my mom fed to me by the truckload when I was a kid), Adam gets to enjoy it all for himself!

Use It Up, Wear It Out: 15 Bean Soup (Day 4)

In case you haven't guessed by now, I love beans (and I probably shouldn't be advertising this). I love the variety, the colors, and, of course, the protein they pack! So it was a bit surprising that a bag of 15 Bean Soup has been lingering around the pantry for months on end.

This is a marketable version of stone soup. All you need is the bag of beans! ... and a pound of ham... and a can of tomatoes... and onion, and spices... and so forth. It came with a little spice packet that was chock-full of must-have ingredients like hydrolyzed soy protein and artificial smoke flavor. And those were just the ones I can pronounce! So I tossed it.

I suppose there are two reasons why this was sitting around forever: 1) the 8-plus-hour soaking time for the beans, and 2) the price of ham. So yesterday morning, I threw the beans in a pot of water on my way out the door for work, and when I came home later, they were good to go! Gee, that was hard. :-P Then, since I'm a cheapskate, I used about half a pound of bacon instead of the pound of ham. I wasn't about to go hog-wild about this, after all! Fortunately, it did the job.

The verdict: when all was said and done, it is overpriced for a mere bag of beans with a little packet of chemicals. But the soup is soooooo tasty. I will definitely keep the recipe on hand somewhere and just use my own beans next time!

My overall reaction: I could totally pig out on this any day!

Adam's reaction: He doesn't like bacon, so he didn't try it. More for me, mwuahaha!

Use It Up, Wear It Out: Masa Harina (Day 3)

Masa harina, to all you gringas, is corn flour (not to be confused with corn meal), as well as the next thing I needed to use up in the pantry. Last year, I went on a quest to make my own homemade tortillas. How domestic, right? Unfortunately, I found out about two cups into the masa bag that corn flour dough is extremely crumbly, and that corn tortillas are all but impossible to make without a tortilla press. Que triste.

Isn't that the cutest little corn man?

I also threw in a can of refried beans that had been a member of this household a little too long. What could I make that would use up a generous portion of masa without using too many exotic ingredients?

I found Pupusas.

Although they sounded more like something out of a biology textbook than a meal, I was willing to give them a try.


First, you take a ball of dough and flatten it into a circle. Spoon the filling (in this case, beans and cheese) in the middle, and work the edges up and over the top.

That stuff is IMPOSSIBLE to keep together. I suddenly remembered why I hate working with corn flour.


Fry it in oil for several minutes...






And enjoy with the toppings of your choice!

The verdict: I love that this uses up so much masa. Unfortunately, it didn't use up too much of the beans, because each pupusa required a mere tablespoon or so. I found the pupusas to be a bit bland, but I think that has a lot to do with me forgetting to add salt to the dough and cutting the cumin in half (one whole Tablespoon kind of scared me). It was pretty good with salsa, and even better with sour cream! And I bet it would be delicious with a spicy meat filling. I am definitely NOT a fan of fried foods, so that was a major drawback for me. The South hasn't won me over yet! ;-)


My overall reaction: Meh. But it uses up the masa well enough.

Adam's overall reaction: Delicious! Can I have some more?



Thus ends day 3 of the Use It Up, Wear It Out Challenge!

Use It Up, Wear It Out: Soup, Soup, Soup! (Day 2)

Something came up yesterday that took me out of the house for the entire day, so I didn't do any creative cooking. So, I'm going to talk about the dish I made on Saturday that is my favorite way to use up those pesky pantry ghouls:

SOUP.

What I love about soup is that you can throw just about anything in the pot, and with the right seasonings, it'll all taste good! What a great way to clean out the pantry!

Now, there are a few things that my soup always needs to have. First is some form of meat. Now, I'm all for going meatless, but DH tends to feel a bit deprived if there's not some meat in the dish. So what I will do is take a small quantity of meat (I used one chicken breast on Saturday), and cut it up into teeny tiny pieces. Psychologically, it does the job.

Second, my new favorite seasoning: red wine vinegar. For two years,my soups have always been really bland, until about a month ago, when I tossed in some vinegar out of desperation. It really does the trick without adding extra salt!

Third is chicken or beef stock. It adds that je ne sais quoi.

Fourth thing I always add is beans, for the protein. This was actually the whole reason for Saturday's soup, because I've had a can of kidney beans forever that needed to be used.

What else was in my soup, you ask? Here's the run-down:

• 1 Chicken breast
• Onion
• Garlic
• Canned tomatoes
• Kidney beans
• Corn (frozen)
• Broccoli (frozen)
• Potatoes
• Carrots (found languishing in the crisper drawer)
• Alphabet noodles (another long-term pantry resident)

A couple things I've learned about making soup: I always saute the onions, garlic, and meat in oil first. This is also where I add the herbs and spices, so that it really infuses into the oil and the meat and packs the biggest flavor punch.

If I add pasta, I boil it separately until it's very well cooked, and add it at the very end. Otherwise, it will soak up all the liquid in the soup. Be prepared for this to happen with refrigerated leftovers!

Well, that's about I can think of for now. If you are blogging about your own pantry adventures, you can link your post here! Bon appetit!

The Use It Up, Wear It Out Saga:

The Challenge

Grape-Nuts

Use It Up, Wear It Out: Grapenuts (Day 1)

My Use It Up, Wear It Out Challenge began tonight, when I was absolutely starving. There is a definite lack of snack foods around this house, which is pretty devastating for a pregnant lady. I rummaged around the pantry and found this:

Also known as Grape Nuts, for the more brand-conscious. This has been sitting around for at least six months. Six months ago, I remembered absolutely loving Grape-Nuts- I mean, "Nutty Nuggets"- in high school, so I bought a box. Unfortunately, I grew a couple wisdom teeth between high school and now, and thus I came to the literally painful realization that Grape-Nuts now wedge perfectly in my gums. Not fun!

Believe it or not, you can use Grape-Nuts to make these:

Also known as delicious muffins!

The recipe I used is found here. What I liked about this recipe:

• It calls for applesauce (another thing that's been in the fridge forever! Score!)
• Whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup sugar-- brown sugar. And that's it.
• A good amount of cinnamon (my ingredient of choice!)

This was a definite win.

If you are also using up things in your pantry, feel free to link a post about it here!

The Use It Up Saga:

Day 2: Soup

Use It Up, Wear It Out: The Challenge

My pantry is full of weird culinary odds and ends. I started to get bugged by it about the same time that I realized that the Downright Domicile needed to drastically cut spending this month. Since my day job pays me somewhere between volunteerism and Chinese minimum wage, we've been behind on the midwife bills (among other things. We just won't mention those). Now that Adam is done with school for the summer and can work now, the pressure's off a little bit, but we will be daaaangerously close to missing the 100% payment deadline at the end of July.

Now, I definitely lean towards the crunchy side, but I'm gonna have to say no thanks to an unassisted childbirth in the bathtub.

Enter the week of Use It Up, Wear It Out.

It's common knowledge that one of the easiest expenses to control is food. And I refuse to spend any more money on food right now, when I have a whole bunch of random ingredients in the pantry that just require a little ingenuity to become dishes. So, for each day this week, I will choose one pantry ingredient that needs to be used up and figure out some way to incorporate it into the day's menu.

I'm so looking forward to the challenge, that I am opening it up to you, as well! I would love to hear the creative ways that any of you might be using up food hiding in the back of your pantry. Feel free to write a post about it and share it on the Linky! Happy cooking!

The Use It Up Saga:

Day 1: Grapenuts

Day 2: Soup

Getting Ready for Baby: The House, Part 2

So, in a previous post, I told you that we're looking for the best housing options for us once the baby comes. Our conclusion?

We're better off financially staying in our one-bedroom apartment with no laundry hookups. How so? Here's how I came to that conclusion:

My main concern is getting the laundry done around here, with cloth diapers and all. Apartments with the same square footage as my apartment and washer/dryer hookups start at about $75 more than what we're currently paying. Then you factor in the cost of renting a washer/dryer, since we can't afford to buy one now: about $25 a month. Without even factoring in the extra cost of hot water, that's at least $100 extra a month.

The laundry facilities where I live right now are about fifty feet away from my doorstep, and everything is ground level, so it's pretty convenient. It costs $2.50 to wash and dry a load, but we usually bring the wet laundry in the apartment and dry it on a rack. Yay for savings! I figure that we do a maximum of 10 loads a month for Adam's and my stuff. If I wash diapers every other day, and allot 5 more extra loads for baby clothes, we have 30 loads total per month.

30 x $2.50 = $75

And that's if we pay to dry all the clothes, too! So we will be saving if we stay.


So that's the laundry. Then there are also other factors:

~The pet deposit. That's about $300 down the drain if we move to a new place!

~Proximity to school. Our apartment complex is the closest you can live to Adam's school. He usually bikes there. Yay for low mileage!

~A fantastic floor plan. There is no other way I'd even consider staying in a 700-foot apartment with any other floor plan. As I've said before, this one is laid out so that all the rooms are spacious.

~The cost of moving. Getting a truck, driving back and forth between living spots, hooking up the electric... it adds up, and we'd much rather put that money towards moving out of OKLAHOMA!


I just found out yesterday that two adults + one baby are allowed to live in a one-bedroom! Hoorah! So now that we've made our decision, I guess it's time to declutter and really get the house ready for Baby!

GladRags: possibly the best thing ever

Well, we still have power, but it has been precipitating all day. Classes are cancelled, and businesses are closed. As of now, at 3:45 p.m., there is not a single tire track in the apartment parking lot, because everyone is holing up in their apartments. And no wonder, because it's so nice and cozy inside! Ahhhh, where's my hot chocolate?

Now, for the topic of the day. I was going to wait a little longer to write this, but circumstances compel me to share the tidings sooner! Read on, read on! FOR THE MALE READERS: this post is all about feminine hygiene, so you probably don't want to read any further. Leave the computer, and go try to wash off all the cooties you have just gained from reading even this far.

About a year ago, I was really hating the whole disposable pad/tampon thing, for a variety of reasons. 

ENVIRONMENTAL- Pads are made out of plastic, so those used pads are going to be around till kingdom come. GROSS!!!!!!!! According to this pad calculator, I would probably use around 7700 more disposable products, starting today. I hate the thought of leaving that much trash behind me! And that's just little old me. According to this page, over 20 BILLION of these products are filling up landfills... EVERY YEAR. Ugh.

Not to mention, think of all the resources and energy expended in just manufacturing them. All that shipping and packaging. Pads are individually wrapped, (and tampons often have all those plastic inserts and stuff), then wrapped together in another plastic package, and then shipped to the store in a box. That's a lot of waste, and overpackaging doesn't necessarily mean sanitization. Read on...

HEALTH- Chlorine and plastic-related chemicals are used in the manufacturing process-- things I would rather not have in such close proximity to my body. And then there's the increased risk of TSS, especially with tampons. They tend to dry out tissue, which makes it easier for microscopic tears to develop, which provides an opportunity for evil bacteria to infect the body. Yikes!

COMFORT AND WELL-BEING- By the end of my period, I was always very raw and chafed from the plastic. I hated having to carry extra pads everywhere and feeling panicked if I ran out. Also, I hated creating more waste. Oh, and perpetually shelling out money for something I was just going to throw away kind of rankled me, too. And... THE DIAPER FEELING!! AAAAAA!!!

And then, last year, I found out about GladRags. And I bought this. And my life has never been the same again. Cloth pads are so amazing! I just wish more people knew about them! They are so comfortable, it's like wearing clothing. Since I use a menstrual cup, I never worry about being without protection when I'm out and about. Sometimes, though, I will carry an extra cloth pad in a Ziploc bag, just in case, but I rarely need it. And here's the best part: no more spending money! I am actually planning on buying a couple more, but that's more for convenience's sake. I'm tired of hand-washing and drying my three pads every day of my period. 

One nice thing about using cloth pads is that it has forced me to get real about menstruation. It's really sad for me to see women try to pretend like it's not happening, to talk about it in hush-hush tones like it's some sort of disease, and watch ads for pads that skirt around the whole issue of menstruation. My last roommate summed the mentality up perfectly when she said, "I don't want to see it [blood], handle it, or know it's there. I hate periods!" What a sad way to approach a perfectly natural and good phenomenon of life. Handling your own blood is not gross. if you think that is too gross to handle, then may I suggest that you not have babies or pets, because you will be dealing with far worse stuff.  Now that I use alternative products, I feel so much more positive about my period. Honestly, how can you not feel happy when you get to wear pretty floral pads?  I feel more feminine now that I feel more free to embrace this aspect of being a woman. And suddenly, leaking in public does not seem like a fate worse than death. Thankfully, this has not happened, but if it did, then I guess everyone would be surprised that I'm a woman or something. 

Sorry to talk you ear off. If there's one thing I would like for you to carry away, it would be this: GLADRAGS IS HAVING A GREAT SALE FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY! You will get 20% off any order of anything when you type in "HappyNewYear09". No, they are not paying me to say this. I am just a very happy convert, spreading the gospel of better women's health.