How To Bake Potatoes, Make Mayonnaise and Halloween Costumes- HBHW Newsletter

September 15th 2009

Editorial

I love fall… it’s finally starting to cool down and I can’t wait for all the brilliant colors of the leaves changing. Sure it’s a little bitter-sweet so see summer go and the seasons change again, but I’m ready for a change of pace. How about you?

It also means it’s time to start thinking about all our favorite holidays including Thanksgiving and Christmas. Part of my plan for the coming weeks is to completely redo and update the holiday recipe section and I’ll be asking for you input in a few weeks as well.

The past few weeks I’ve spent some time thinking about Halloween. We enjoy dressing up and handing out treats at our house. If you are offended by Halloween (which I completely respect) skip on ahead to the rest of the newsletter…

…but if you (and your kids) enjoy dressing up, I have a treat for you 🙂 I put together a downloadable ebook with over 90 Halloween costume ideas that are easy and inexpensive to make – no sewing required. And to celebrate the beginning of fall (and because I’m getting very annoyed with all the expensive costumes displayed all over stores around here), it’s your’s for $7.00 this week. To get your copy, click the link below.

Homemade Halloween Costumes Made Easy

I hope you’ll enjoy making these cute costumes as much as my daughter and I have. It’s so much more fun than picking something off the rack. As always, if you’re not happy with it, email me and I’ll refund your purchase.

By the way, these costume ideas are also great for school plays, or just playing dress up.

Ok, enough about Halloween and on to the rest of the newsletter. The Hillbilly Housewife Club is buzzing with excitement from new members joining in the past week or so. Take a look at what we’re talking about in the HBHW Club section.

We’ve also had lots of submissions for anything from Frugal Tips, Recipes and Looking For Requests and there are lots of comments on last week’s request. I am loving how interactive this newsletter has become. I’m learning something new with each issue.

A few people are still having an issue with the left side-bar covering up part of the newsletter. We’re still trying to figure out what’s causing it. If this is happening to you, would you mind taking a screenshot and emailing it to me? (if you’re not sure how to do that, email me and I’ll get you some step by step directions – it’s not hard). My web designer and I aren’t able to reproduce that error (the site looks fine to us no matter what we try), and it makes it hard to diagnose the problem without seeing exactly what’s going on.

That’s it for this week. As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions. Feel free to email me at susanne@hillbillyhousewife.com

Warm Regards,

Susanne – The Hillbilly Housewife

Inspirational Quote

“Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.” – Charles R. Swindoll

Ready to make a Halloween costume with your child? Homemade Halloween Costumes – no sewing required.

Reader Question

I’m trying to make my own mayonnaise. It always stays kind of runny and doesn’t set up. Any suggestions?
Ellie M.

Hi Ellie. Great question. Making mayonnaise can be a bit tricky. I have two suggestions for you.

1) Make sure everything you’re using is very clean (the bowl, the spacular, whisk etc.) Even small amounts of contaminants can prevent the mayonnaise from forming an emulsion.

2) Whisk very fast and in the same direction while slowly adding the oil. It’s actually easier to make mayonnaise in the food processor.

Try this recipe for homemade mayonnaise and let me know if that’s working for you.

Susanne

News From The HBHW Club

This is a new section of the newsletter. Each week I’m going to share some tidbits of what’s going on at the HBHW Club with you. I hope you enjoy these extra tips, recipes and ideas and of course would love to have you join the club.

As a HBHW newsletter subscriber, you can join for only $10 per month here: http://www.hillbillyhousewifeclub.com/special.html

And to make it even easier, I’ll let you try it out for just a dollar for the first 7 days.

Here’s one of the recipes that were submitted this past week.

Pizza Casserole For A Crowd

* 1 1/2 lb hamburger
* 1/2 cup onion, diced
* 1/4 cup green pepper, diced
* 4 oz. mushrooms (canned or fresh)
* 1 tsp. salt
* 1/4 tsp. black pepper
* 1/8 tsp oregano
* 16 oz wide egg noodles
* 2 (10 oz.) cans pizza sauce
* 1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
* 1 cup milk
* 1 cup sliced pepperoni, cut into bite size pieces
* 8 oz. Mozzarella cheese, shredded

In large skillet, brown ground beef until just starting to lose the pink color, than add the onion, green pepper, mushrooms, salt, pepper, and oregano, and continue cooking until ground beef is brown and veggies are tender, but not too soft.

Meanwhile, cook the noodles as directed on the packaging, and drain.

In large bowl, combine the beef mixture and noodles with the pizza sauce, tomato sauce, milk, and pepperoni. Turn into a large casserole dish and top with the mozzarella cheese.  Cover and put in 350 degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes.  Uncover and cook 10 minutes more or until cheese starts to brown. This is a big dish that will serve about ten people.

And here are some of the other recipes that have been added in the past few days.

• Sunday Night Pork Roast with Island Glaze
• Cafeteria Hot Dish Chop Suey
• Chicken Salad Sandwiches
• Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk
• All-Purpose Spray Cleaner

All in all, we have over 190 new recipes in the member area already.

We’re still talking a lot about reusing things and repurposing them. Some of my favorites have been reusing old calendars and of all things foam meat trays. Meal planning has been another biggie and we’ve been sharing what kitchen gadget we use the most.

Ready to join us? Try The HBHW Club for only $1. We’d love to have you! http://www.hillbillyhousewifeclub.com/special.html

Featured Article

This week we’re back to the regular article format. Thank you for all the wonderful comments and emails about the oatmeal report. I’m very glad you enjoyed it and I’ll put some more reports like it together and share with you down the road.

This week, I’m sharing various ways you can cook potatoes (the baked kind). Did you know you can make them in the oven (ok, that one was obvious), microwave, toaster oven, on the grill or in the fire pit?

Read How To Make A Baked Potato and leave a comment with your own tips and ways to make them. I look forward to reading what you have to say on the topic.

Frugal Tips

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Do you have a tip to share? Fill out the submit a frugal tip form and I’ll be glad to add it to the site and share your tip in an upcoming edition of the newsletter.

Recipes

Here are some of the most recent recipes that have been added to the HBHW site. Enjoy!

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Do you have a recipe you would like to share? Click here to send it to me and I’ll be happy to add it to the website.

I’m Looking For:

This section is going to be all about you. If you are looking for a particular recipe or a tip on how to do something, submit it here and I will post it in an upcoming newsletter. I’ll give you my input and other readers of the newsletter will have the opportunity to share their recipes and tips as well. So take a moment to post your questions and of course if you have a tip or idea for any question posted in this section feel free to leave a comment under the appropriate post.

I’m Looking For Requests
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I’m Looking For Responses
Below you will find some of the recent responses to the “I’m Looking For” Requests. You may also want to go directly to this section and browse through all the recent submissions and replies. To do so, click on “I’m Looking for” here, and start looking through them.
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Inspirational Story

THE OBSTACLE IN OUR PATH

Author Lee Ryan Miller

In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock.

Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the big stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. On approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road.

After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. As the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway.

The peasant learned what many others never understand. Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve one’s condition.

Final Thought

That’s it for this edition of the Hillbilly Housewife Newsletter. I hope you’ve had as much fun reading it as I had creating it for you. I also hope that you have found the information helpful and useful. And by all means feel free to forward the newsletter to family and friends or even better, encourage them to subscribe to it.

Do you have a question, a tip, a recipe or a story you’d like to share with us? Email it to me and I’ll include it in a future issue. Can’t wait to see what you have to say.

Warm Wishes,

Susanne – The Hillbilly Housewife