Image courtesy of Little Birds Handmade

I like the idea of a TV Cozy. The worst problem with TV is how easily it becomes a habit. So I had this idea awhile back–a decorative cover for your TV that makes watching it more deliberate. If you have a TV Cozy, you have to get up and take it off before watching TV, which means you also have to consciously think about whether or not to watch. Martha Stewart has some instructions on how to make a TV Cozy. It looks as easy as making a pillowcase, and with the right fabric, it could look great in the room.

I am not a skilled enough knitter for this, but I love this free owl sweater pattern from needled. Which reminds me, I should finish that other sweater I started um… over a year ago… (Via them again.)

Craft pointed out these instructions on how to make your own chocolate honey lip balm from Instructables. Since my husband uses chapstick and loves chocolate, I was naturally intrigued.

Apparently making lip balm requires a few semi-unusual ingredients, which you then melt in a double boiler and pour into containers to harden. The recipe makes 11 tubes of lip balm. To make them, you need (quoting from Instructables, here):

Beeswax
The first time I made this I used an old candle, but for this batch I bought 2 oz from the farmer’s market for $1.75 — definitely get the fresh wax if you can, the difference in flavor is stunning!

Cocoa butter
This can be found in any pharmacy. I’ve seen it at Rite Aid, Duane Read, etc, usually near moisturizers. This 1oz stick was $1.29

Almond oil
You could probably try other types of oil, but I would steer away from ones with heavy smells or flavors like olive oil — you don’t want to dissimulate the honey and chocolate flavor.

Vegetable glycerin
You can find this in health stores, but I’ve also seen it in craft stores. This ingredient is what makes this chapstick more of a lip balm. Glycerin will absorb humidity from the air to moisturize your lips.

Vitamin E
This is also an oil, with the thickness of fingernail polish when it’s pure. The oil helps moisturize, but the main purpose here is as a natural preservative. This can also be found in any pharmacy, but read the label carefully: the quantity named in this recipe is for PURE vitamin E, and sometimes it is sold mixed with glycerin. You can still use it if it’s been cut, but you’ll have to adjust the amounts: more vitamin E, less glycerin. If you don’t feel like doing any math, just get the pure bottle. This bottle cost around $10 but you need so little it will last forever. You can also decide to skip it altogether if you think you’ll be using the chapstick within 6 months to a year.

Cocoa
Dark unsweetened cocoa will give you the best flavor

Honey
Any kind is fine

Containers
The first time I made this I used plastic bottle tops and covered them with plastic wrap — but since I made this batch as gifts, I bought empty chapstick tubes on ebay ($7.45 for 25 tubes, including shipping). Little tins would also work nicely and can be reused.

I think this is a great project and looks delicious… uh, I mean, useful. It could be a good way to reuse old chapstick containers and burnt down beeswax candles. I’m not sure if these costs much less than the store-bought chapstick, but they would definitely be better quality.

Extreme Tech posted an interesting article by Lloyd Case on the effect going solar had on his energy bills in the last 6 months. Even though Case lives in California, he still gets less sunshine during the winter, so his solar panels collect less energy in the winter and his energy bills go up. He posted a graph to illustrate:

Even though $198 may seem like a pretty high energy bill, Case says that before going solar, he was paying over twice that. “My power bill for January, 2008—one year ago—was $446, after consuming 1,635kWh. 576kWh of that January total was over 300% of what PG&E calls baseline usage, and is the most expensive cost per kWh. My total power consumption cost for the last six months is $389.39—less than my utility bill for January, 2008.”

So going solar is saving him money, but it’s not eliminating his power bills in the winter. If you also consider that installing the solar panels cost him $40,000, I’m not sure how frugal these things really are. In my case, I spend around $1,200 a year on power. If I put in a similar system, even if it did generate enough power to pay my bills, it would take 33 years for the solar panels to pay for themselves. On the other hand, solar panels would also increase the value of your house. I’m certain that if I put them in, they would be a plus for buyers in this area and pay for themselves that way. Still, I hear that cheaper, more efficient solar panels are coming on the market in a year or two. Maybe I’ll wait until then.

I think this Galerie Spirit Cabinet from Crate & Barrel is a decent buy for $349. It holds 18 bottles and 12 wine glasses and looks good doing it. Product details:

Spirits storage with a glamorous and sleek silhouette, updated with a modern, richly textured espresso-colored stain. The active grain of ash veneer adds texture, while the custom elliptical brushed nickel finish pulls add a sleek accent. Our rolling cabinet’s capacity expands your entertaining options, with space for 18 bottles, two wine glass racks, and one adjustable shelf behind each door. The top slides open to reveal additional prep and serving surface. A central storage drawer holds openers, stoppers and other paraphernalia.

I am also fascinated/confused by the Sloane Leaning Wine Bar/Bookcase for $499. Great for people who like to combine booze and books, I guess.

While the Bistro Salad isn’t my favorite salad of all time, it is surely my favorite to make. I keep making them for lunch over and over again. It’s a salad dressed in vinegar and topped with a poached egg. When you’re eating it, the egg yolk mixes with the vinegar and makes its own creamy dressing for the salad. It’s kind of a mixture between breakfast and lunch, and the addition of the egg to the salad is both easy and feels fancy. Plus the whole thing is low in calories. Here’s a recipe:

Bistro Salad

Ingredients:

2 Eggs
Vinegar
Olive oil
Lettuce
Carrots
Croûtons
Cheese (I used a soft cream cheese broken off in chunks, but any cheese will do)
Salt/pepper

Directions:

1. First, poach the eggs. Get a frying pan and fill it with water. Add about 2 Tbs of vinegar to the water. Heat it until it is simmering, but not boiling.

2. Carefully slide two eggs into the water. I do this by loading each egg into a tea cup and then sliding them carefully into the water. Let your eggs poach for about 4-6 minutes. Be careful not to boil them.

3. While the eggs are poaching, make the salad. Add lettuce, carrots, croûtons, and a little bit of cheese to the bowl. Mix the salad with the same vinegar you put in the poaching water. I used rice vinegar. Drizzle with just a touch of olive oil–remember, the eggs will make the dressing, so you don’t need much other fat. Add salt and pepper.

4. When your eggs are poached, the whites should be firm with some wobbling in the middle from the loose yolk. Pull them out of the water with a slotted spoon. Hold over the pan for a moment to let excess water drain off and then slide them on top of the salad, like so:

(Yes, this is the same salad from my croûton post.)

I kept this particular Bistro Salad pretty simple, but I often add other ingredients. For example, you might add:

Bacon
Fresh tomatoes
Baby celery
Almonds
Fresh mozzarella balls
Radishes
Etc!

The key is to keep it fairly simple so that the egg remains the star of the dish. Even if you aren’t a fan of runny yolks, this dish might change your mind.

I have no need to make anything like this right now, but I’m drooling over this Citrus Champagne Punch from Emeril Lagasse.

Ingredients

* 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
* 2/3 cup superfine sugar
* 1 cup vodka
* 1/2 cup limoncello
* 2 teaspoons vermouth
* 1 (750 ml) bottle chilled dry Champagne or sparkling wine
* Ice
* Lemon twists, for garnish

Directions:

Combine the lemon juice, sugar, vodka, Limoncello, and vermouth in a large nonreactive bowl and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, 1 to 2 hours. Add the Champagne and stir to combine.

Serve over ice in highball glasses, garnished with lemon twists.

Hmmm, my lemon bush is full of lemons right now….

The other day I was in the grocery store and happened to look at the price of croûtons. At my store, a 5 oz bag of croûtons is $2.99. That is $.60/oz. To put that in perspective, that’s the same price per oz as filet mignon.

While I’m sure other stores charge less for their croûtons, any price is too much when you consider that they cost almost nothing to make, use up stale bread, and taste just as good when you make them yourself. In fact, I made a big batch yesterday and won’t have to bother with croûtons again for at least 6-8 months. Here’s how I did it.

First, I gathered up some stale bread from the freezer. I had a half a loaf of sour dough and a quarter loaf of a wheat/white mix. Together, it made up about a pound of bread.

I microwaved the bread for about a minute to soften it enough to cut. Then I diced the bread and put it in a bowl. I didn’t worry about the cubes being perfectly square, but I did try to keep them bite sized.

Next, I seasoned the bread. Most croûtons have salt, pepper, garlic, and olive oil. I also included onion powder and sesame seeds. I added the seasoning and oil a little bit at a time and then tossed the bread with my hands until they were evenly coated. You don’t want the bread to be saturated with the oil. I also tasted as I went until the bread tasted good to me.

After that, I laid the croûtons out in single layer in a pan.

I read that you should cook the croûtons in the oven for 20 minutes at 275 degrees. I have found that it works just as well to broil them. Simply stick the croûtons under the broiler until they start to turn golden (2-5 minutes). Then take them out and toss. Put them back in the broiler, and let the other side get golden (30 seconds-1 minutes). The second side will brown much faster, so watch that they don’t burn.

Cool and enjoy on top of your favorite salad.

Cost of Dish: Bread: free because it was stale and would have been thrown out; olive oil: $.25; other seasoning: $.25.
Total Cost of Dish: $.50 for 1 lb of croûtons, or $.03/oz.
In the Store: $2.99 for 5 oz of croûtons, or $.60/oz. It would cost $9.60 to purchase 1 lb of croûtons.
Total Savings: $9.10

Inspired by Jessie’s comment on my Use It Up Challenge post, I started of thinking of ways you can reuse old tea bags instead of throwing them out. Turns out there are quite a few things you can do with used tea bags. Here are five of ways to reuse them:

1. Feed Plants–There are several ways people use tea to feed plants. Some people break open the bags and sprinkle the tea around the soil of the plant. Others brew the tea a second time and water the plants with weak tea. Still others bury the bag in the ground or add it to their compost bin. Either way, the key is to give the minerals to the plants. This works best with acid-loving plants, like roses.

2. Deodorize–Instead of a box of perfectly good baking soda in your fridge, why not used tea? Stick the bags in a porous container like a cotton bag and let the tea absorb the odors of the fridge for you. (Another site I read said to dry the tea and mix it in with your cat litter to absorb the odor. I’m a little skeptical this would work, but it couldn’t hurt.)

3. Soothe Your Skin—When I was a kid, I tried a lot of home remedies like egg-white masks and cucumber on the eyes. Used tea bags on the eyes came up a lot. Apparently the tea can soothe the skin as well as it soothes the soul– the tannic acid is anti-inflammatory. Just put a cool tea bag on your eyes for 10-15 minutes. Used tea bags also work for mosquito bites and other small inflammations. Some people even save tea bags to make a tea bath to soak in.

4. Dye Fabric–Tea has long been used to dye fabric. It gives the fabric an antique or sepia tinge that can be quite cool. So used tea bags can be a way to reinvigorate graying whites or spice up a craft project. Here’s instructions of how to do it.

5. Make More Tea–You know, tea is expensive. According to my price book, it costs $3-$4 an ounce. So one way to make the bag go further is this: brew a cup of tea, save the bag. Brew a second cup of tea, save the bag. Then take those two bags together and brew a third cup of tea. Voila! Free tea. I have no idea if this tastes good. I tried something like that with coffee and it was gross. But I’m a bit of a coffee snob–if you like weak tea, I could see this working just fine.

Personally, I think I might use the tea to deodorize my fridge. I plan to save a few bags, dry them out, and stick them in the back of the fridge in some sort of container. It seems like a better thing to use than baking soda, which can certainly be put to better uses.

How have you reused your old tea bags?

Drawflower sells reusable lunch bags for $19.50. They are cute, but they got me thinking about making your own for dirt cheap. Here’s a tutorial of how to make the above bag from Tumbling Blocks.

The key would be to go to the local fabric store and see what you could find in the clearance section. Vinyl/oil cloth/etc. is usually on sale, and you wouldn’t need too much of it. Add that, some thread, some velcro, and a little bit of labor and you’ve got a lunch bag that can be used over and over again–plus it might make you want to bring your lunch to work.