Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

We, here at the palace, recently came across a regal roasted pumpkin seed recipe. We found it here: www.cooks.com. The King and Queen were most impressed with this fabulous recipe, but the princesses also delighted in these non-traditional roasted pumpkin seeds.

The Royal Chef in your home should PRE-HEAT the oven to 250 degrees.

Step1: Remove pulp, place seeds in a colander, and run cold water over them. When the seeds are clean dry them. Cooks.com suggests to put them between two paper towels. (We, at the palace, skipped the paper towel step and the seeds still tasted wonderful!)

Step 2: In a large skiller, saute 2 cups of pumpkin seeds, with 2 tablespoons of butter or 1.5 tablespoons of peanut or safflower oil and 1 teaspoon of salt. (We, at the palace, concocted a mixture of coconut oil, olive oil, and corn oil - as we are still experimenting with coconut oil (see previous posts)- we didn't measure per se - and we just added SEASONED salt to taste and topped it off with a royal tad of garlic salt).

Step 3: Stir in the skillet for 3 minutes. (We stirred on high in the skillet probably approximately 10 minutes, but then we had quite a royal bit more than 2 cups).

Step 4: Spread seeds evenly on a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes.

Step 5: Taste, continue to bake an extra 15 minutes if necessary.

Step 6: Place on a paper towel to cool. (We, here at the palace, skipped this step and left the seeds on the pan to cool).

These seeds were absolutely royally delightful!

Enjoy!

Until next time, may your palace be sparkling, may your family be well fed and in good health, and your resources be plentiful, all because you choose to be wise and frugal, for both your family and your palace!

The Princess-i-fied Palace

A Royal Meal Without the Royal Price

We here at the palace love our Mexican food! Here is our "royal secret" to our Mexican night success:

One pound cooked ground turkey (found at grocery store in the frozen section for about a pound)

One can black beans (don't drain- use the juice instead of water to mix with Taco Seasoning

One can pinto beans (don't drain - use the juice instead of water for mixxing with Taco Seasoning)

Taco Seasoning (of your choice - prepare according to seasoning directions only substituting bean juice for water - we here at the Palace buy our Taco Seasoning for about 1/20 of the price in a big container at a wholesale warehouse)

Voila!!!! Delicious Taco Meat for your tacos, enchilada, or burritos!

Enjoy!

Until next time, may your palace be sparkling, may your family be well fed and in good health, and your resources be plentiful, all because you choose to be wise and frugal, for both your family and your palace!
The Princess-i-fied Palace

POPCORN!

We here at the palace enjoy a popcorn snack at least once a week. We can eat microwave popcorn if we have to - but we prefer popcorn cooked the old fashion way (perhaps maybe not over a campfire) but traditional in the modern appliance sense. Traditional popcorn kernals in grocery and superstores are several pounds for small containers of popcorn. We have found a more frugal way to purchase popcorn is at the local health food store. Popcorn is on average at least 2 pounds less than at grocery and convenience stores - not to mention that this Health food store price is often for ORGANIC popcorn. So... the next time you or your family want(s) a popcorn treat instead of heading to the grocery store why not try your nearest health food store.

Until next time, may your palace be sparkling, may your family be well fed and in good health, and your resources be plentiful, all because you choose to be wise and frugal, for both your family and your palace!

The Princess-i-fied Palace

PPF Homemade Floam Recipe

We here at the Palace have recently discovered a royal fondness for "Floam." Floam is much less messy than playdough, so it helps to keep the palace clean, but it also is a lot of royal fun every time we pull it out! Bought "FLOAM" can be expensive, but the palace has made it for mere pounds which is of course the frugal way.

Here is our royal "FLOAM" recipe.

Ingredients: 1 Tsp. Borax ( found in your grocery store's laundry aisle)

3/4 cup H2O (water - straight from the tap is fine)

1/4 cup Glue (white school, Elmers or off brand - all will work)

1 (1 Quart) zip locking bag

Food coloring (COMPLETELY optional - but the floam will discolor from hand oils eventually - so why not make it some fun color)

Approximately 6 oz. of styrofoam beads

A few royal shakes of glitter

Royal Floam Directions: 1. Dissolve Borax into 1/2 c Water in a small cup

2. In the bag, mix 1/4 cup of H2O (water) and 1/4 cup of

white glue. This is where you can add the royal food

coloring and a few royal shakes of glitter to give it that regal look if desired.

3. Add the Borax and water solution to your bag with the

water and glue solution.

4. Add the styrofoam beads

5. Seal the bag and knead the mixture until it is

thoroughly mixxed.

6. Take floam out and play.

7. Enjoy lots of royal fun!

*** TO keep your royal floam play-worthy - it should be stored in an airtight container or a zip bag!*****

Until next time, may your palace be sparkling, may your family be well fed and in good health, and your resources be plentiful, all because you choose to be wise and frugal, for both your family and your palace!
The Princess-i-fied Palace

Coconuts, Vinegar, and Other

The Palace recently read somewhere about another use for vinegar. Now, a while back a dear Palace friend, Jodie (from http://jodiemalodie.blogspot.com/) posted about using vinegar in one's washing machine to prevent static. We here at the palace have tried that - but for some reason perhaps, since we live in the specific palace that we do, we still seem to find our royal wear with a slight static feel - BUT... that being said the royal washers still keep trying this method in part because the royal washers love the sizzle that happens when the vinegar hits the detergent - it seems to just shout CLEAN- and we here at the palace are all about CLEAN!

The Royal Queen went on a hunt one day and came across another use for vinegar most people in the royal kingdom might not know about. Vinegar - as previously stated is a wonderful cleaner. This time the Palace put vinegar in the royal dishwasher paired with a little baking soda. AGAIN, there was an instant SIZZLE which of course, denotes CLEAN. So the royal dishwasher washed those palace dishes with vinegar and baking soda - and LET IT BE KNOWN THROUGH ALL THE KINGDOM... the palace dishes came out clean! The royal cleaners used a one to one ratio of vinegar and baking soda.

The Palace has been doing a little research on the benefits of coconuts and coconut oil. Did you know that coconuts have many wonderful health qualities for your body? The Palace had been adding more olive oil into the palace diet over the last year, but did you know that while Olive oil is GREAT for your heart ,it also actually continues to reside in your body as fat? That's right and NOBODY in the palace is interested in pure fat, so this was a major revelation to the Palace. Coconut oil does not stay within the body as fat and the benefits are wonderful. We just recently have begun our coconut oil venture here at the Palace - but already a difference is noted in cooking, taste, and how our bodies feel! The Royal Family has been using coconut oil in just about everything from - popcorn to hot tea. The Palace began our journey to understanding the benefits of Coconut here: http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/ -

it is one of the Palace's favorite new sites. Feel free to check it out! Then we went here: http://www.coconut-connections.com/ and http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/organic-coconut-oil/health-benefits-of-coconut-oil.html. We will continue to update you on the Palace's personal waltz through this coconut exploration!

If you don't purchase an Entertainment book for your area - you should. The Palace highly recommends the Entertainment and Gold C books as a way to save money on many of your favorite royal places.

The Palace cleaning staff has recently started using cotton squares for quick clean ups in the royal bathroom. Just one swipe around the sink and faucet and the bathroom is tidy. Sometimes the cleaning staff will put a little cleaner on the cotton square, but mostly the palace uses the squares dry immediately after the queen puts on her makeup, the king shaves, or the royal couple brushes their teeth. The cotton square is just the right size for small simple messes.

Until next time, may your palace be sparkling, may your family be well fed and in good health, and your resources be plentiful, all because you choose to be wise and frugal, for both your family and your palace!

The Princess-i-fied Palace

Making it fun~ Without the Cost

One of the princesses recently started soccer. The King and Queen had bought the princess a soccer ball years ago - but alas, it was the wrong size for her new soccer criteria. So... what is a frugal palace to do - but head to a second hand shop and find a ball for merely a pound or two. Pump it up, if it doesn't hold air then a frugal king knows to put the tire slime in the ball and roll it around (thus sealing any small invisible holes). To add a bit of glitz, glam, or make it special for the princesses one can either decorate this recycled ball with stickers or one can use paint pens and make it an original piece of art! (Pictures will be posted soon!)

Until next time, may your palace be sparkling, may your family be well fed and in good health, and your resources be plentiful, all because you choose to be wise and frugal, for both your family and your palace!
The Princess-i-fied Palace

A Palace Favorite

Many years ago in the royal kingdom, way before there were any princesses or even a king in the midst of the castle, the queen found a treasure for the mere price of a pound . It looked intriguing to the queen so she bought this find of all finds thought that it might just be what the palace chefs would like as an addition for the royal kitchen. Over the years the palace chefs have made many recipes from this book. The royal kingdom thought we might share with you one of our favorite recipes from this book. The Palace searched for this book a variety of ways on line - but somehow this version doesn't seem to be around even on such frugal sites as ebay. The Palace did find a book which is under the same title which appears to be very similar by a Doctor Neal Barnard M.D. - unfortunately, as we here at the Palace have not seen this book - we cannot comment as to the helpfulness of Dr. Barnard's book! Here is the recommended Palace favorite recipe from Dr. Bohannan's book.

TUNA SANDWICH (pg. 313)

2 slices wheat bread

3 ounces tuna

1.5 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tomato

1/2 chopped romaine

Though we here at the palace have tried many versions of tuna - this is our absolute favorite. It really doesn't even need any seasoning!

We hope you enjoy this recipe.

Until next time, may your palace be sparkling, may your family be well fed and in good health, and your resources be plentiful, all because you choose to be wise and frugal, for both your family and your palace!

The Princess-i-fied Palace