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

It used to just be ebay, but now......

The Queen has known about ebay for years, but she really didn't get into shopping on it until last January. But members of the royal court, please don't be fooled by the ebay monopoly. The Queen wants you to know that there are other ways to find your desired item and sometimes, for less than any courtier would like to sell it to you on ebay. Now don't get us wrong here at PPF, we still love ebaying when appropriate, but we are just saying that it pays to shop around for that special palace item.

Palace Treasure found on Craigslist.

http://www.craigslist.org/ has many items. It breaks things down into categories. So if you want to find a special book for your child - you can peruse the books section for that specialty item. It was actually here that the palace picked up our beautiful new/old Emerson piano to grace the Palace and bring delightful music into our home. Many things are free on craigslist and there is a WANTED section to "shout out" a call for that specialty item that you want! We have picked up several needed items lately from Craigslist. The Palace is currently listed under a local WANTED section for a variety of broken and unwanted crayons. While some members of the craigslist court ask for unreasonable things - unfair barters etc. We here at The Palace believe that Craigslist can be a valuable tool for one's palace when it is used appropriately.

This item was recently purchased in its entirity from Goodwill and with all but a few items in their original packaging for LESS than 1/5 of the price of one bought new ( and that includes shipping right to the Palace Door).

Another wonderful online option for the frugal consumer is Goodwill. Were you members of the court aware that Goodwill has an auction website? To take a look - please go here http://www.shopgoodwill.com/. As a member and potential buyer, you will need to come up with a password and a name - similar to an ebay account. While, the Palace doesn't find it to be as well developed as ebay, the Palace has found that we royals can find good bargains on this site as well, as long as a we royalty are well informed of the price for the desired item and what the item sells for new, and on other sites like ebay. If you are looking for home goods, many can be found here for a fraction of the price. Are you looking for a wedding present - you just might find a good deal here. This is a site that the Palace has used on occasion for a few items. It has worked well and should at least be considered the next time your palace is in need of something!

This item was also recently purchased from Goodwill for just a few dollars. This is a perfect addition to the Princess bedroom at the Palace!

Especially for the younger and growing members of the Royal Family second hand shopping is a wonderful option to explore. Though is not an online option for the most part, The Royal shoppers can often find new - sometimes gently used items for pennies on the dollar. Many times tags may still be on clothing items. Other times name brand items may be purchased in an appropriate size and season for next to nothing. The royal children are excited to see their new items - they don't care where they came from! Dance items such as leotards can be found as well as items for school uniforms -etc. This is another wonderful resource to check out as time allows. The PALACE has figured out that it is best to shop these places without the royal children in tow - as it is easier to shop, scrutinize, and calculate!

Of course the summer is a wonderful time to shop around neighborhoods at all the wonderful palace sales, unfortunately we here at PPF - with three small princesses have not found this to be a very viable option at the moment. When the princesses are older , I am sure it will be an option enjoyed by the entire Palace - but for now it is not something that the Palace is able to do on a regular basis!

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

Royal Celebrations ~ Palace Style

We here at the Palace have enjoyed a few royal celebrations of late.
Kari and Kijsa ( here : http://kariandkijsa.blogspot.com/2008/06/mantel-101.html) recently had this celebration of mantels. While, here are the Palace, we are a tad late - this is the palace mantel decorated for one celebration. Though it may look simple - is in fact decorated with significant memorabilia both from the present and the past for an important day in the life of the King and Queen.

These plates were found for pennies at the end of summer sale at Target one year. One of the palace staff - purchased them and brought them home. Each summer the Queen elects to use these plates for most meals. This happens to be breakfast on a special morning. The Royal Family discussed going to CRACKER BARREL, but alas, this was a much better use of our resources, and of course, just as tasty!

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 Cool Summer Treat

While, prices are rising at the grocery store - we, here at the palace, have found one thing that is still somewhat reasonable - BANANAS. For a yummy summer treat - peel several ripe bananas - put a popsicle stick through the end - sprinkle a little lemon juice on the banana (to keep it from turning brown) - wrap in foil and freeze. Cheaper and healthier than popsicles! And wonderful for those princesses (and princes) who are teething! 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

PPF - Mutli Bean Soup

Soooo..... the word around the courtyard is.... that we, as a country, are facing a recession.

We here at the PPF - have been reading and re-reading The Little House Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder recently. Have you ever wondered about the things they ate back then? One item that seems to be recurring throughout many books is BEAN SOUP. So... for your dining pleasure Here is PPF's own version of Multi Bean Soup.

Princess-i-fied Palace Frugality Multi Bean Soup

One cup dried lentils

Two Cups dried Black Beans

One Cup dried Kidney Beans

One Cup dried Lima Beans

2 cups dried split peas

1 cup dried northern beans

1/2 black eyed peas

Place all beans in a pot of with 8 cups of waters - allow to boil for 10 minutes. Soak beans for 1 hour! Rinse beans and place in slow cooker. Add 4-8 cups of water - depending on size of slow cooker.

Add 1 can diced tomatoes and chilis with lime

Add two tomatoes cans regular diced tomatoes or two whole fresh tomatoes diced.

Add one onion diced.

Season as desired.

Cook on high for the rest of the day.

Serve hot with either french bread, corn bread, or johnny cakes ( see http://www.vintagerecipes.net/books/directions_for_cookery/johnny_cake_2.php for one recipe - this may just become one of my favorite recipes websites in the future)!

Eat and 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

Cleaning The Palace Ivory Keys

We here at the Princess-i-fied Palace recently acquired a beautiful new (to us) antique piano.

Have you ever wondered about the best way to care for ivory piano keys? Well, have no fear, Princess-i-fied Palace - will let you in on the little secret to beautiful ivory piano keys.

Keeping your Piano Ivories Sparkling White

First, SUNSHINE does wonders for piano keys - so don't close that lid to keep the little prince and princesses dirty fingers off the keys! Every sunny day at the palace one should open the piano cover and let the God's natural light whiten those ivory keys!

Second, as piano keys are made of ivory, the Princess-i-fied Palace preferred cleaning method for ivory keys is white all natural toothpaste. One should gently rub the key with tooth paste (being careful not to get any toothpaste on any non-ivory piano part). Allow the toothpaste to stay on the key for approximately 5 minutes. Then with a soft cloth dipped in milk- gently wipe the toothpaste away. If your palace keys are extremely yellow - this may take a few applications before you notice a difference. Here at THE PALACE , our keys are about as old as they come, and we only required one cleaning. The Palace will likely deep clean the piano keys with the toothpaste/milk bath 2-4 times a year in the future.

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 Greeting To All

Welcome to our Princess-i-fied Palace Frugality blog!!

We will endeavor to share frugal tips for you and your palace!

Topics will range from frugal shopping & purchasing, to frugal meals, to time savers, as well as palace cleaning suggestions. We welcome emails, suggestions, other frugal tips for all royal homekeepers.

Today's Palace Pointer #1

Vinegar

Vinegar is a fabulous cleaning product with a wide variety of uses. Vinegar may be used in a solution for cleaning windows and glass in the proportions of 1 cup vinegar to 5 cups water. Here at the Princess-i-fied Palace we like to use apple cider vinegar for this solution. This solution may be placed in a spray bottle and may replace your bought glass cleaners which not only are expensive, but also tend to have harmful contents (*of important note for those interested in keeping a "GREEN" home).

White Distilled Vinegar may also be used straight out of the bottle for cleaning showers, tile grout, grease, soap scum, bacteria, and mold. We here at the Princess-i-fied Palace - have placed the distilled vinegar into a spray bottle (actually a REUSED spray bottle that has been washed and cleaned - as that the proper frugal action for any palace). We have found it is best to spray the vinegar solution on the identified area and then wait a minute or two - before wiping or scrubbing the area. We like to scrub with toothbrushes here at the Princess-i-fied Palace. Now you may want to go out and buy toothbrushes - and a frugal place to do so is... Walgreens... who like to sell their cheapest toothbrushes for a minimal price occasionally. Of course the most frugal way to use toothbrushes - is to recycle them for cleaning after they have served their official purpose of teeth cleaning for an extended period of time.

The Royal Staff may clean you own palace coffee maker by using a solution of 1 cup water to 2 cups white vinegar. This vinegar/water solution should be poured into the water chamber of your coffee maker and then cycled through. It is recommended the the royal staff then cycle at least one straight water cycle through the water chamber prior to imbibing your next cup of java. Sometimes cycling an additional extra cycle of water through the coffee maker eliminates any extra residual vinegar taste or smell.

A mixture of 1/3 balsamic vinegar to 2/3 rice vinegar is a salad dressing that is sure to be a hit in any palace.

Two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar at night is said to help a prince or princess lose weight and/or prevent type 2 diabetes, though nobody at the palace has ever tried this.

Vinegar can also be use in a solution to prevent swimmers ear. The proportions are thus: 1/2 portion vinegar to 1/2 portion isopropyl alcohol.

These are just some of the wonderful uses for vinegar.

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