Peanut butter pie has always been a favorite – we had it often when I was growing up. Creamy, smooth, and peanut-buttery goodness surrounded by a light and flaky crust – what’s not to love? In this particular case, the bf and I wanted to have something sweet for Oscar Night 2013 and this no-bake dessert fit the bill perfectly. Continue reading
Perfect Pie Crust
This is the ONLY pie crust recipe you will ever need. Period. I’ve used it for fruit pies, cream pies, tarts and quiches – it works perfectly with sweet, creamy, or savory flavors. Best of all – it’s easy to make and you can do it with ingredients you already have in your pantry. Continue reading
Planned Obsolescence: What it is, Why You Should Care, and How to Avoid it
This is a guest post by Jesse Andrews, a person I’ve known since elementary school and with whom I’ve gotten reacquainted over the last couple of years as we’ve shared thinking around politics, economics, military, modern lifestyles, global warming, etc. You can read more about his lifestyle projects/improvements and general observations on his website, The Ripening. He brings a positive perspective to all his thinking, and his research of and knowledge around planned obsolescence is a great addition to my recent posts on reducing, reusing and reorganizing. Continue reading
Pineapple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
My mom made this cake often when I was growing up and it’s perfect for just about any occasion – birthdays, holidays or just for a nice dessert after a meal. I will admit – it doesn’t really taste much like pineapple. Weird, I know. Instead, the pineapple acts in place of butter or oil in this recipe and makes the cake very dense and moist – more like carrot cake in texture. It’s very easy to make, as is the frosting! Continue reading
Less Bling, More Style
My beautiful jewelry armoir – stuffed to the brim with old necklaces, bracelets, extra watchbands and links, small jewelry boxes saved for gifting but still unused…basically a catch-all space for anything in this category.
Essentially, it’s a mess – and even worse, most of the contents I never even wear! Parting with jewelry was an odd and difficult task, but I did it and in doing so reaffirmed my own personal style. Continue reading
Ethiopian-Style Chickpea Stew
I stumbled across this recipe from Whole Foods, and thought it sounded absolutely delicious. I’ve been trying to eat meatless meals more often, and loved how flavorful this sounded. It wasn’t difficult at all to make, either! Continue reading
De-cluttering: The Dreaded Kitchen Basket
Face it – we all have one of these. It’s probably in the kitchen, or maybe the foyer or dining room, but it’s there…a basket, bucket, drawer or shelf stuffed to brims and overflowing with…STUFF!
I grew up in a house where the basket held mail, pens, calculators, notepads, and receipts to be saved. It was always full and as a result there always ended up being more clutter around the basket. Before we could blink, the entire section of kitchen counter was overtaken with torn envelopes and dried-up pens.
As part of my 2013 initiative to declutter and reduce, I decided that the one in my apartment had to go. For good. Not only was it an eyesore, it actually made me MORE disorganized – some important papers were in the basket, others were filed and I never actually knew where anything was. That makes my life more difficult, not less. Here’s how I did it: Continue reading
3 Easy Ways to Save Money This Year
The Social Security tax credit of 2% has expired. If you’re like me, you feel it in each paycheck – especially since most Americans haven’t gotten a raise at all in the 2 years the tax credit was in effect. This means we are bringing home a significantly lower amount of money. In the interest of being positive in 2013 and trying to take action where I can, I decided to do things on my own to help ease the pain of this lower income. Here are three ways I saved some money on my monthly bills: Continue reading