Chocolate chip pudding cookies

I love soft and gooey chocolate chip cookies, but it used to seem like you can only buy them at the store already made, which I didn't like doing.

Then, I started to vaguely remember as a young girl one of my moms friends talking about making cookies with instant vanilla pudding and thought to myself "I bet the pudding makes them soft an chewy!" and I was right!! I whipped up a batch of them yesterday and they are so yummy. The hubby was even ranting this morning how he loves that they didn't go stale over night like most cookies do. So, without further ado, I present you with my chocolate chip pudding cookie recipe.


Ingredients 

1/2 cup of butter

2 cups of chocolate chips (you can add more or less to your liking. I used Hershey's Semi Sweet chips because they were cheapest. I'm frugal and I buy what's on sale.)

1/4 cup of canola or vegetable oil. (I prefer canola, but veggie works too.)

1 package (3.5 oz) of Jell-O french vanilla instant pudding. Regular vanilla works too!

2 1/4 cups of flour

1tsp baking soda

1tsp vanilla

1/4 cup of sugar

3/4 cup of brown sugar

2 eggs

The how to


Preheat your oven to 375.

Start by adding all of your dry ingredients first. (sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, flour, pudding mix) mix all together. Then, add in your chocolate chips. Mix those up in with the rest again.

Then, add your wet ingredients to the mix. (eggs, vanilla, canola oil, butter, vanilla)

knead the mixture with your hands until smooth and cookie dough-ish.

Grease your pan and then make golf ball sized balls with the dough, then squish it to look like a disc, but don't squish it to be completely flat. You want then to be flattened to about 1/2 of an inch.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. My oven required 12, but I have come to realize that no two ovens will cook the same! Bake them until they are a golden tan/brown color.

Here is a picture of my finished product. So yum!

THE BEST WAY TO CLEAN ANYTHING OUT OF YOUR CARPET!!!

     As I may have mention in an earlier post, my husband and I are in the process of moving out of our tiny one bedroom apartment and into a home about 4 times as big. (yay!)

     However, after two years of living in this place, I need to do a DEEP cleaning on it, starting with the carpets. See, When I decided to get a puppy I didn't realize that they WILL have accidents on to floor regardless of how often you take them out, ESPECIALLY if they are a small breed dog. Even after cleaning up the mess, I still away felt as though my carpet would never be as clean as it was again. Let me tell ya... I have tried EVERYTHING. Vinegar, Windex, laundry detergent, carpet cleaning solution, plain ol hot water, you name it, i've probably tried it on my carpet. I always ended up disappointed when the 2 peepee stains and 2 coffee spill stains seemed to linger.

     My husband was on the phone with his father one night and was telling him how obsessed I am with using my carpet cleaner because I was never fully satisfied with the results. My FIL then told him I should try using mens shaving cream on the spots. Yes, you read that correctly. Mens shaving cream. Apparently it takes all of the oils that trap dirt, stink, and stains inside the carpet So, I ran up to the store and bought a can of $1 generic brand shaving cream.

I squirted that stuff all over the stains and smeared it in.

Waited 15 minutes.

Ran my carpet cleaner over it.

And then I admired the fact the stains were gone. There was no evidence of them anywhere.

AND THEN!!!

I was so pleased with the results I went kinda sorta crazy. By crazy, I mean I squirted shaving cream all over my living room floor and smeared in all in, and then went over it again with my carpet cleaner. (if you use your carpet cleaner, make sure you empty the take more often since the shaving cream is so thick.) The carpets look brand new, and smell so fresh. I'm a happy camper now. :)

My couponing strategies that will save you tons of money! Part 1

     I'm not going to lie you you ladies and tell you that when you start couponing it's going to be easy peasy. It can be slightly challenging at first, especially if you don't have an organization method that works with you. However, in this post I will give you some pointers that will help you get on track to making your wallet (and stockpile!) fatter!

Picking and obtaining the best coupons for your needs

1.     Always get multiple papers on Sundays, or at least multiple sets of the coupons. I know that some towns have more than one newspaper. A larger one, and then a smaller local newspaper. Become familiar with both newspapers, because sometimes the smaller local newspapers have the better stash of coupons in the middle! 

Organizing your coupon stash

2.     I have found that organizing my coupons is easiest with the binder method. I STRONGLY suggest you use this method. My binder is 3" and I organize my coupons on the inside (obvi) with clear baseball card protectors and labeled section dividers. I recommend when setting up your binder that you go up to your local grocery store or whichever store you will be doing your couponing at and ask for a print out of aisles and what type of groceries are on each of them. This will help you organize your binder perfectly based on where things are in the store. 

Choosing a grocery store

3.     Why can't I shop at the store that I've been shopping at? You ask. Well, You can. But sometimes the store you like the most isn't necessarily the store that's going to save you the most money. The store that will likely give you the best deals is a store that offers a membership/savings card. (By that I DON'T mean the buy in bulk warehouse stores that require a membership to gain access.) These stores usually have an online database that allows you to upload what is called E-coupons onto your savings card.  When I shop, I usually don't buy all of my products in the same stores. I usually buy things like soda and laundry detergent at CVS or Walgreens because they usually have great sale prices on them, you can use a manufacturers coupon, a store coupon, and a competitors coupon. As for regular groceries I just shop at a regular grocery store, but different ones. I buy pretty much all of my dairy, meats, and produce at the Commissary. (if you are a mil spouse you know what this is. I am forever grateful that my husbands service provides me with the privilege of being able to grocery shop tax free.) as for the rest of my grocerys, I shop at Safeway. 

Become familiar with your stores rules on coupons

4.     While you are at the grocer picking up your print out of aisles and products, another thing I would recommend doing is asking for a copy of the store's coupon policy. This will become your new BFF. It might just save you one day. I cannot urge to you enough the importance of knowing your stores coupon policy. Study it, laminate it, lick it, own it, love it. Keep it in your binder. It's always better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. :)

Before making a big couponing/shopping trip, do a walk through of the store.

5.     This could potentially save you even more money. By doing this, you can make note of sales on products that weren't advertised. 

Shop with a budget and cash only. No exceptions. 

6.     When you shop with a budget and cash, it will help you avoid spending money you don't need to spend on things you don't need to buy. I have noticed that I am way more frivolous with a debit or credit card then if I have cash. Plus, when I use cash I can save my change and my $5 bills. (I will talk about my $5 savings plan in my next post. :)

Obtaining your coupons

7. Every Sunday morning it has been a routine for my husband to get up out of bed, watch tv and eat his breakfast and then run out and buy me my newspapers. We buy more than one every Sunday, but you can also get them from family, friends, neighbors, etc. Another thing I sometimes do is order coupons from a coupon clipping service. You can usually find a coupon you want through one of these services on Ebay. It may sound crazy to pay for coupons, but sometimes ordering them will save you more than I paid for them. For instance, I ordered 2 sets of 25 coupons from a CCS and paid $2.50 for them both. I walked out of the store with 50 packages of gum to send to my hubby's deployed platoon for free and I made about $10 off of the transaction. In this circumstance, paying the extra money for a coupon was bettter than not paying for it.

Join me for part two tomorrow! :)

        

   

Almost TOO easy chevron striped crochet baby blanket!

     This is absolutely one of my favorite gifts to make for a baby shower, although it consists of single crochets, it works up easily, and as the title of this post says... Almost TOO easy. 


There are a couple of different yarns I like to use when I make this. One is Loops & Threads Impeccable ™. It is an acrylic yarn, but is much softer than the typical acrylic. You will need a 5mm or H hook if you choose to use this. The second yarn I like to use when making this is Caron Simply Soft ®. However, I do not use the 5mm/H hook as the label recommends. I use a 4.25mm/G hook for this. Here are pictures of both types of yarn to help you choose which to use. :)

*Note* I have noticed when using the latter of the two yarns the completion of the project takes slightly longer.

Excuse the crappy cell phone pics. We are in the process of moving out of our teensy one bedroom apartment and my camera is packed away along with the rest of fun stuff!

Loops & Threads Impeccable

5mm H hook! 

Simply Soft 

My 4.25 G hook

 For a baby blanket, chain 151 stitches.

Starting in the second chain from the hook, *single crochet in the next 10 stitches. In the 11th stitch, do 3 single crochets.

                                          Here is your second chain from the hook.

Here areyour 3 single crochets in the 11th stitch.

Now, Single crochet in the next 11 stitches, and then SKIP 2 stitches.

Here are the two stitches you need to skip.

Repeat from * until you have reached the end of the chain. Then, Chain 1 stitch, turn your work, and begin from * again. 

Hope you found this helpful!