Use this simple trick to clean and restore your car headlights

Who knew that regular old toothpaste could easily shine and restore your headlights? I tried this trick and was pleased with the results.

 

While there are several methods for doing this, I chose a direct approach.


1.  Apply a good amount of  regular old toothpaste directly to the headlight cover.

2.  Use a soft cloth to rub the toothpaste across the entire surface of the lens cover

3.  Wait 3-5 minutes

4. With a clean cloth and a bucket of cool water scrub the lens  cover clean.

5. Repeat step 4 until all the gunk and goo is removed.  

6. Wipe dry 


My experience with this method:

The toothpaste dried up fast as I rubbed (maybe it was the fact that I stopped to take a few pictures). I had to add more toothpaste as I went to ensure complete coverage. The other trouble I had was I had three young helpers (as Mom's often do) so I ended up with toothpaste in places that I didn't really want, like on the hood of the car. It took quite a bit of rinsing to get rid of all the extra toothpaste that comes from my helpers. 

It was well worth it. I have looked into lens restoration before, it is expensive to have someone else do it. Do it yourself kits are less expensive but still cost quit a bit. I got as good results with toothpaste as I did with one of the commercial cleaners that I used several years ago on another car before I knew about toothpaste.  

I give the simple toothpaste method 5 stars.


     

Using up leftovers

leftover rice becomes rice pudding

My husband loves homemade pudding. Whenever we cook rice he wants to be sure that we have leftovers so that we can make rice pudding.  He  makes sure to remind me that we need to cook enough to make pudding. He has been known to request rice for dinner just so we can have rice pudding afterwards. This is the recipe that we have developed over the years.

photo from Bing images

Leftover rice pudding

In a medium sized saucepan mix together

1 can (12 ounce) evaporated milk
1/2 to 1 cup leftover cooked  rice
1/2 cup water
Cook this mixture over medium heat until the rice plumps up and gets softened, and creamy (about 10-15 minutes).


1 1/2 cups milk (2% is what we usually have)
3/4 cup sugar
4 Tablespoons cornstarch
3 whole eggs
Mix the sugar, cornstarch, and eggs into the milk, whisking well.
Pour this milk mix into the hot rice mixture. Bring the entire thing to a boil.

Finish the pudding with;
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Cinnamon to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon or so)
raisins or dried fruit if you like


It can be served warm or cold.  Although, hot from the pan (with a steaming mouth) is my husband's favorite way to eat it.










This post shared as part of real food Wednesdays

 

haybox cooking the original crockpot/slowcooker

Before there were electric crock pot/slowcookers there was haybox cooking also known as a Norwegian stove.

The idea is simple: bring the food to a boil, insulate well, and let sit. The food will continue to cook at a slow rate for several hours or stay hot for up to 10 hours.




Making your own haybox cooker is quite simple.

You will need:

family sized cooking pot with a tight fitting lid (we use a dutch oven)
a large cardboard box
insulation material. This could be newspapers made into paperballs, shredded paper, sawdust, wood shavings, hay, or anything that can be packed tightly around the pot inside the box. (dirt would even work well in a pinch).
newspapers or other material for a box top
a fabric cover  (optional)


1. Choose a pan  that will hold enough food to serve your needs
2. find a sturdy cardboard box large enough to have about 5 inches of space around all sides of the pan
3. cover the bottom of the box with about 5 inches of tightly compacted insulation (The tighter you pack the insulation the greater heat retention)
4. Place the pan in the center of the box (on top of the insulation). The pan should fit just below the top of the box. Add more insulation to raise the pan to this level if needed.
5. place more insulation around the pot bringing the insulation level with the top of the pot. making it as compact as possible.
6. make a lid for the box. A stack of newspapers 3-4 inches thick secured with masking tape would do just fine for a lid.
7. make a fabric cover if desired.

The temperature in the box will usually range between 180-200 Fahrenheit. This depends on the compactness of the insulation materials and the tightness of the lid.

Cooking in the oven is very simple

bring the food to a boil and then place the pan into the box seal it up and let it be. Try to open the box as little as possible.

rice will be ready in about 30 minutes. Bring to a boil and then into the box for 1/2 hour
dry beans bring to a boil for 15 minutes then place in the box for 2-3 hours
stews bring to a boil for about 15-20 minutes then place in the box for about 2-3 hours
Any of your crockpot recipes can be adapted for haybox use. Just get the cooking process started, then into the box to continue cooking.

This method of cooking is so simple. Because there is no source of heat, the food will not overcook or burn no matter how long you leave the food in the box. Start food in the afternoon, it will be ready and hot for dinner later on in the evening.






Notes adapted from: The next crisis: Surviving in times of scarcity, Inter-American Institute pages 115-17



shared at http://thankyourbody.com/thank-your-body-thursday-10/

play dough

                                   

I grew up with homemade playdough/Salt dough.  I have found a new recipe made with kool-aide powder. It is smoother than my mom's recipe and smells good too. I like it so much better. It does not crumble or leave residue on your hands.  It is really simple to make.




Kool aide play dough
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 teaspoons cream of tarter
1 envelope kool-aide unsweetened drink mix

mix dry ingredients in a medium sauce pan.
Stir in oil and water
1 cup water
1 1/2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

cook on a medium high heat for a few minutes until the dough forms a ball. 



here is the dough as it formed in the pan
 it comes together quickly


remove to a floured surface and knead for a few minutes until smooth and cool enough for the kids to handle. 

store in a zip top bag or a container with a tight fitting lid.

fun in the kitchen

     
          MAKE YOUR OWN WATER COLOR PAINT
         WITH STUFF YOU ALREADY HAVE ON HAND

Making your own water color paints from your kitchen is Super easy


you will need

3 Tablespoons Baking soda
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
3 Tablespoons white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons corn syrup

food coloring

In a bowl mix all but the food coloring
divide the mix among little pots, soda pop lids, ice cube trays  whatever little thing you have to put it in.
We used an ice cube tray that makes sticks for water bottles.

Once divided, mix a few drops of food coloring in each portion of color

Can be used right away, but it is better to let the paints dry overnight.

This is alot cheaper than buying paints already made. 

This is the best slip and slide ever!!

We have fun at our house!  Alot of it is created on the spot. A few weeks ago when we saw the neighbor boys setting up a slip n slide, my son asked if we could set up our own. We went to the garage and found a peice of plastic sheeting. We layed it out on the grass putting it over the best slope we could find. Turn on the garden hose, and there you have it; "the best slip and slide ever".  

I grew up with "the waterslide" We had freinds with a great big grassy hill in the backyard. They bought a super jumbo roll of plastic sheeting about 5 feet wide and 20 feet long, and put it on the hill. Every summer we spent many a hour climbing and sliding down the hill. It was fun. It was a race to see who could make it to the end of the plastic. The plastic would bunch and puddle. Sliding through the puddles was a real joy. This was real summer fun.

We moved away when I was a young teen. Once in our new town I had a freind invite me over to slip n slide. "What's slip and slide?" I ask. "Oh it is  this water thing. You put it on your lawn, and slide on it." You can imagine my shock when she pulled out this tiny peice of plastic from a box. It was red and about a foot and a half wide and five feet long. It looked so small compared to what I grew up with, maybe it is because I am a teenager now, and I am so big now. She slid so easily across it, all smiles. I followed suit, getting a good running start, I promplty slid across it, off the end, and into the grass. I stopped about six feet later, complete with grassburn across my entire body.  It was not nearly wide enough, or long enough for a teenager. I did learn that a running start is not needed when riding a short "from the box" slip and slide. When you make your own (depending on the size) a running start can be helpful.

Back to the start. We set up our slide; and soon, those same neighbor boys were down to our house to see what was going on. They abandoned their slip n slide to come to our house with the "best slip and slide ever"


To make your own slip and slide/waterslide you will need :

1 hot summer day

A large roll of plastic sheeting. You will need something thick at least 3 mil. thick.
Ours was  3 mils thick and about 3 foot by 12 foot.  Whatever is affordable in your price range will do.

1 plot of grass.

A Garden hose

1 sprayer or sprinkler for the end of the hose (oprional)

A bunch of people to slide.



Add some nice summer drinks or popsicles and you have yourself a real summer  party on the spot.

dehyrdrating cantalope

We got a surprise the other day at the grocery store, free cantalopes!  We dried three of them, and gave several away. You can read about us blessing others with cantalopes here.

Drying the melons was really easy.

Peel the melons, and slice them about 1/2 inch thick

Toss them with a little sugar. For three small melons we used about 3/4 cup sugar.

Lay them out on cookie sheets

Dry them in a very low oven overnight. We set the oven dial to just barely on (about 125 degrees)

Turn them and then let them dry on the other side for several hours.

We ended up with something sweet and chewy that tasted a bit like the dried mango that you get in a prepackaged trail mix. Over all it was a fun experience.

Summer fun

Summer time fun!  How we love the long summer days. Today was a hot one.  We invited some of the other kids in the neighborhood over for a play date. A couple bags of waterballons from the dollar store and some ice cream bars, and we had ourselves a good summer afternoon. We filled up the kiddie pool and turned on the sprinklers. It was fun. It kept the kids busy and didn't cost but only a few dollars. I love finding fun on the cheap.

I think in a few weeks we will have our own Backyard Olympic Games . We will have to come up with some fun events for that. Any thoughts? leave a comment with any good ideas or sites that would be useful.  Thanks 

super easy sparkle paint

It is hard to see here, but the paint is shiny an sparkly.  It is so easy, and the kids love it.


To make your own sparkle paint you will need.


corn syrup and food coloring

1. mix the two together to get the shades that you want.

2. start painting

A little sticky but fun. It takes a day or two to dry.

Our new favorite books

ELEPHANT AND PIGGIE BOOKS ARE OUR NEW FAVORITE

We love reading books. We recently discovered Elepant and Piggie books while at our local library. These books by Mo Willems are fun for the kids.They are easy enough for my 6 year old to read. They are stories about an excitable elephant named Gerald and his best friend piggie. My children love silly animal books and this fits the category. 

We love the library. The kids look forward to our trips to the library (the librarians probably do not). It is fun to explore new worlds with books. I grew up with book adventures and I want my kids to have some of that same experiences.

 Make the library part of your life. It is a simple thing that can make a world of difference in the lives of our children.