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Wacky Wednesday | Make Your Own Jell-O Gummy Worms

by Beth Montgomery on April 18, 2012 · 3 comments

in Dessert Recipes, Do It Yourself, Entertainment & Fun, Frugal Living, Recipes, Recipes for Babies & Kids

Okay, I am going to be honest, this is by far the most disgusting and yet fun thing I have done in a long time. We have done plenty of Jell-O Molds, Knox Blox and the like in our time, but Jell-O Worms? I wasn’t too sure, but I had two little boys in my house who were absolutely sure that this was THE thing to do for Wacky Wednesday.

So I embarked on a journey to create worms! Now you can too!

What you’ll need:

2 boxes (1.4 oz) Jell-O or Flavored Gelatin (raspberry or grape if you want brown worms)
4 envelopes unflavored gelatin
5 cups boiling water
1 1/2 cup Cool Whip
green food coloring, (if you want brown worms)
100+ plastic straws with bendable necks

How to get started:

Find a tall thin container for making your worms. If you have a 1/2 gallon or carton of milk or orange juice, trim off the top and that will work perfectly. I used a thermos that we had laying around (fail!). Thermos’ are insulated to keep the cold stuff cold and the hot stuff hot. SO with now thinking ahead planning on my part, running the water over a thermos to loosen the Jell-O from the sides, doesn’t work very well. So learn from my mistake and just chop off the top of your orange juice container, rinse it out and consider yourself warned.

What ever you do decide to use, make sure it can hold about 6 cups of liquid and that it is straight up and down to hold your straws erect. Now fill it with straws, this was my son’s favorite part, because not only did he get to ‘grow’ the straws (extending out the bendy section), but he got to put them in and practice his counting skills. Place all your extended straws into your container with the bendy part facing down and make sure that the end of the straws are sitting flush to the bottom of your container. Pack the straws in tightly to get a nice snug fit, a rubber band around the top of the straws will help pull them together when you pour in the Jell-O mixture.

Now it is time to make the Jell-O mixture. In a medium bowl, stir together the plain and the unflavored gelatin, then add the boiling water over the gelatin powder. Stir until the powder is dissolved. If you would like to make multi-colored worms, you can! Just use 1 box of flavored gelatin and 2 packets of unflavored gelatin instead and dissolve it with 2 1/2 cups boiling water. At this point let your bowl (or bowls) of gelatin cool down for about 20 minutes, not set but slightly warm, then add in the Cool Whip. If you are making one color worms, put in the entire 1 1/2 cup, use 3/4 cup if you are planning on using two separate colors. My plan was to make orange and red, but I didn’t wait for the orange to set enough before adding my red so they came out one color. We didn’t opt for the brown worms, because my stomach couldn’t handle that, but this is the point where you would add the green food coloring to turn your worms a natural brown color.

Put your container of straws on a cookie sheet or inside a larger bowl, like I did because there will be spills!! Now that your mixture is ready to go, slowly pour the Jell-O over the straws. Some of the Jell-O mixture will seep up the sides, but no worries, your straws should be filling up. If you are using two different colors, pour in the first color and allow it set for about 30 minutes or more in the refrigerator. Then pour the other color on top. You can see that mine turned all red, because I didn’t allow my first color to set long enough, but it was still very disgustingly delish! I also used a clean lid for the extra Jell-O mix since I ran out of room in my thermos of straws.

Chill your Jell-O filled straws in the fridge overnight. After the Jell-O has set, it’s time for the messes of all messes! Run your container under warm water until you can pull the entire Jell-O/straw blob out easily. (This is also the part where you thank me for stopping you from using a thermos for your straws! This part was next to impossible and I wound up hacking away at the sides with a butter knife while my friend and the two excited boys tried to pull this mess out.) After about 15 minutes of hacking and pulling we finally managed to get the straws out. (this would have been much easier had I thought ahead and NOT used a thermos, even if it was pink!)

Now onto removing your worms, on all the websites I read, they said to “tightly squeeze and slide your thumb and finger down the length of the straw and the worm will be pushed out of the bottom”. I must not have very strong fingers because after about 5 very broken and quickly devoured worms were “squeezed” out I was just about done! The two little boys I spoke of earlier were about this close to missing out on Jell-O worms because I just couldn’t squeeze any more Jell-O from these straws.

So I ran some hot water back into the now empty thermos, gave each straw a quick dip in the hot water bath and they slid right out with ease. Make sure you don’t leave them in the hot water for too long, or you will experience the slimy mess falling out in the water, in the sink, on the counter and just about anywhere else, EXCEPT where you want them to go. Once they are all out of the straws, place them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and put them back in the fridge until ready to serve, if they make it that long!

Even though ours turned out red, and not at all appearing like real earthworms, when you pop one in your mouth, it does FEEL like you would imagine a real worm does, so if you have a weak stomach leave these for the kiddos!

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Sundays at Home | Homemade Yogurt Bites Recipe

by Beth Montgomery on April 15, 2012 · 2 comments

in Frugal Cooking, Frugal Living, Recipes, Recipes for Babies & Kids

Ready for the easiest and best recipe you’ll ever have? I have a young boy toddler who loves yogurt, but can’t eat it without getting it into his hair, clothes, the table, the chairs, and pretty much everything within a 1/2 mile radius of where he eats it. I know yogurt is healthy for breakfast and since he loves it and it’s so affordable, I’d love to let him eat it for every breakfast. However, when we’re on the go, I have to either plan for a long clean up afterwards or skip it.

This is the perfect solution! Not only that, but it also got my daughters eating more yogurt. Even the Greek yogurt they couldn’t stand taste delicious as Yogurt Bites!

What you’ll need:

(1) single-serving container of yogurt (any brand, flavor!)
(1) sandwich baggie
(1) cookie tray with Reynold’s wrap or wax paper covering it
(1) freezer
(1) container for storage

First, stir the yogurt up to blend it together and make it smooth. Any yogurt will work, except whipped, so mix it up. Try yogurt with fruit in it or the yogurt with the candy in it for a sweet treat.

Spoon the yogurt into the sandwich baggie and push the air out, then seal. Cut one of the bottom corners off. The closer to the tip you cut the sandwich baggie, the smaller the yogurt bites will be. You can make them any size. Just make sure they are bite-size or they’ll be messy to eat.

Squeeze all the yogurt to the end of the baggie towards the cut tip to make it look like you are piping icing.

Squeeze the bite-size drops onto the tray. Make sure they aren’t touching. One container of yogurt makes about one tray of yogurt bites. Next, place the entire tray uncovered into the freezer to freeze.

Since they are so small, they freeze quickly. It may take up to 20 minutes or less. Pull them out and you can easily lift the Reynold’s wrap or wax paper, then use your finger to pop off each one into a container for storage.

Enjoy them immediately, or place them into the freezer to enjoy later. They store in the freezer for about 1-2 weeks. Make sure your container is air tight to avoid freezer burn. Give your young kids a few at a time, because unlike M&M’s these do melt in your mouth and your hands! They are absolutely delicious!

Change it up!

Try dipping fruit in yogurt and freezing for a new and delicious taste!

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Recipe Credit: Yogurt Bites found on Pinterest and Fruit Covered Yogurt on We Love It.

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Should I Toss It Out?

by Beth Montgomery on March 26, 2012 · 0 comments

in Cooking Tips & Tricks, Frugal Cooking, Tips & Basics

Is this still good? This is one question that you should know how to answer, but don’t always know the answer to. At least, I don’t always know without hunting for expiration dates. And while I have a very modest stockpile I still like to make sure that I go through and donate things if they are close to expiration date.

One of my tricks has been to keep a Sharpie in the kitchen and write the expiration dates large on the box so I can see it easily. But what about those things that don’t have an expiration date on them? All You Magazine has made it easy with this nice chart. I am definitely printing this off and taping it inside my kitchen cabinets for an easy reference for the family. Now for some of those questionable items it will be as simple as jotting down the date they are put away instead of hunting for those impossible to find expiration dates!

[Source: Daily Savings from All You]
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Sundays at Home | Homemade Bubble Gum Recipe

by Beth Montgomery on March 25, 2012 · 8 comments

in Crafts for Kids, Frugal Cooking, Recipes, Recipes for Babies & Kids

My daughter asked me the other day if she could have some gum, but after a look, I realized we were all out. Her response was, “Let’s make some then.”

Typically, when we are out of something, we can make it ourselves like bread, crackers, and even hot dog buns, but I had no clue if you could make gum. We went to the internet and after a quick search, we found that we could. We didn’t have all of the ingredients on hand, so going out to buy gum would have probably been more productive, but not as much fun.

I’ll warn you. Making gum is messy! But, we had an absolute blast, so it’s a great way to entertain creative kids.

Before you get started, set the mood with some music! We highly recommend Icky, Sticky Bubble Gum by David Landau or our favorite, The Sticky Bubblegum Song by Carole Peterson.

CLICK HERE to see this recipe.

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Wacky Wednesday | Hot Dog Cupcakes Recipe

by Beth Montgomery on March 21, 2012 · 0 comments

in Frugal Cooking, Recipes, Recipes for Babies & Kids

We’re mixing things up on In Good Cents and launching some new things, so keep watch.

One we’re most excited about is Wacky Wednesday where anything goes. We may be sharing some crazy recipes, fun ideas, insane things we do to stay frugal, hysterical things we’ve seen (or done) while shopping, or whatever grabs our fancy that week.

So here goes it goes!

Getting my kids to eat is a never ending challenge some days, but getting fun with food helps! I’ve learned that adding sprinkles to about anything makes it so much more appealing and cupcakes are always popular, even when they aren’t really cupcakes.

That’s where Hot Dog Cupcakes come into play. They are especially great if you have left over hot dogs from a cookout or camping. Though, if you’re like up, you never have left over hot dogs! I know, it sounds gross, but these are so delicious.

Hot Dog Cupcakes Recipe

You will need:

2 (8.5 oz.) packages of cornbread mix
2 TBSP brown sugar
2 standard-size eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup shredded cheese
5-10 hot dogs (leftovers work great!)

How to make them:

Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grab a muffin tin and grease the cups or line them with cupcake liners.

Cut into bite-size pieces.

Next, chop your left over hot dogs into bite-size pieces. Circles work great, but if you have little ones, try triangles or half-moons to avoid a choking hazard.

Next, mix the cornbread mix and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and milk, then add to the cornbread mixture. Stir until smooth. I typically use my electric hand mixer to save time and get all the lumps out.

Toss in the cheese and hot dogs into the mixture and gently stir.

Spoon your mixture into the muffin tin, filling each cup about 2/3rds of the way full. Make sure the hot dogs don’t settle to the bottom, or you’ll end up a bowl full of hot dogs at the end. If that happens, no worries. Just spoon a few hot dogs into each cup to spread them out evenly.

Place your cupcakes into the oven and bake for about 14-18 minutes until they are golden brown. Keep watch. You don’t want them to burn on the top!

Serve with your favorite side, like baked beans. To make them look more like cupcakes, drizzle with ketchup, mustard, or your favorite dip. Or, if you prefer, you can put the dip on the side to dunk, like we do! But, they taste yummy even without dip.

Mix things up! Try this recipe with sausages for breakfast or brats for dinner.

These are a great meal for Freezer Cooking, so just place them in a freezer bag and place in the freezer for storage. You can pull them out and heat them individually in the microwave to put in lunchboxes or for a quick lunch or snack.

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