Monkey Bread

I had a request for a good monkey bread recipe. This is the one that I like the best. It is easy to make and has a great taste (not low calorie, however!)

Monkey Bread

Ingredients:3 packages refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup half & half or whipping

Directions:Cut each biscuit in four pieces. Mix 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon together. Dip each piece in sugar-cinnamon mixture and arrange in bundt pan.Combine butter, brown sugar, 1/4 cup sugar and half & half or whipping cream. Bring to boil and pour over biscuits while mixture is hot.

Bake at 325° for 30 to 35 minutes.

Serves/Makes: 16

Floral Arranging Yankee Candle Style

I got this idea from a floral shop in Lawrence, KS. I decided to give it a try and you can see the results. This makes a great, economical gift that doesn't take long to make.

Supplies:

Yankee Candle (or similar brand) jar candle with lid
Clear Packaging Tape
Flower Foam (Oasis)
Flowers (I get these from Sam's Club)
Wire Ribbon

Directions:

Using the lid as a pattern cut a piece of flower foam to fit the inside of the lid. Place the foam in the lid and soak with water.

Dry the lid completely and tape it upside down, with the foam facing up, to the top of the jar with the packaging tape. This can be a little tricky to get the lid on straight, a second set of hands is helpful.

Arrange flowers in foam. I get my flowers in bulk from Sam's Club. A package each of carnations, alstroemeria, baby's breath or German statice, and leather leaf fern will make 3 arrangements.

Start with one carnation in the center and two on each side. Add two more to make a cross. The center carnation should be slightly taller than the other carnations. Add alstroemeria to fill in between the carnations. Add a second row of small carnations around the bottom and fill in with alstroemeria as needed. Use the baby's breath to fill in any gaps in the arrangement. Place the leather leaf fern leaves around the base of the arrangement to hide the foam and the top of the jar. You will need to pluck off small pieces of the fern as the entire leaf is too big.

Once you're satisfied with your arrangement, cut a piece of wired ribbon about 18 inches and tie a bow to finish it off.

The flowers from Sam's Club (at least from my club) are very fresh and I've had friends say the arrangement lasted 3 weeks! Buying them in bulk saves cost. Also, if you can hit a Yankee Candle sale or use an off brand (be sure the lid will work) you can make this gift for about $15.

Happy Arranging!

Online Services Worth Checking

It's a great big Web, so you may have missed some of these sites that I've found useful. Since I spend way to much time on the computer, I might as well admit it and post some of my favs. I am not receiving any endorsement money for these , so they are true third party recommendations.

Grocery Game

This Website maximizes your coupon savings and tells you when to stock up on certain items. For example, let's say a grocer is offering a BOGO (Buy One Get One free). You're already saving half price, then you tack on a coupon and now you having savings of 60-70%.

Each week you print out a list of what you plan to buy from the site. It tells you what coupon insert to use from the Sunday paper (you do need to get a weekly paper and save the coupons) and when they were published. It tells you how many to stock up on. It also lets you know about unadvertised savings (for example Walgreen's doesn't always advertise their Register Rewards).

You pay a subscription fee of $10 a month for the first store and $5 for each subsequent store. It is easy to make this back on your first shopping trip.


Shipping Made Easy

I ship a lot of packages from my eBay business. My favorite shipper is the good old U.S. Postal service. If you haven't discovered the Postal Service's Website, you need to visit it. From it you can do almost everything you can do in the Post Office. Plus they will give you free boxes and labels to help you mail your packages.

Printing your labels online is a huge time saver. While the rest of you were waiting in long Post Office lines, I had the carrier pick up my packages that were already pre-posted from my house. When I did have to drop off a package at the Post Office, I just put it on the counter -- no waiting in line. You get evil stares from those in line, but who cares you're out the door in just a few seconds.!

Another mailing service that I use is Stamps.com. For $16 a month I can buy any postage that I want and print it on my home computer. You have to buy their labels, but it works very well and you can mail postal rates not available on USPS.com. For example, you can't send media mail from the USPS site, but you can at Stamps.com. Both provide excellent service. I rarely go to the Post Office, which as far as I'm concerned is a blessing!

My Simon Shopping Bot

If you've never used a shopping bot, they can be very handy. I use My Simon, but there are others. What a shopping bot does is it crawls the Web and finds the cheapest price for you. When I'm hunting for a particular new item, I always to there first. They will list a variety of retailers, rate their service and provide the price with shipping. It is a lot better than spending extended time clicking through Google searches.

Skype

If you have long-distance friends or relatives and haven't found Skype yet, you really need to download this service. It provides free phone and video conferencing via your computer. It is great to see and hear your friends. All you need is a Webcam and a microphone. It is fast, simple, easy and cheap. You'll need to set up a time or make a paid call to connect because your friend or loved one has to be online at the same time.

These are just a few favorites. If you have a favorite, please share it with the rest of us and attache it to this post.