Homemade rice milk

After my huffy post about sunflower oil in rice milk, my sister asked if it's possible to make rice milk. I had never even thought about this possibility before, but lo and behold, it is not only possible, but easy! 

Cooked rice and filtered water in a blender. That's it! It tastes like it sounds-rice water, but as my plan is to use it mostly for cooking, I think it will be perfect. And you could add flavor by adding vanilla or chocolate syrup before drinking. 

1 cup cooked brown rice. 

4 cups filtered water

I added the water about a cup at a time so it wouldn't sploosh out the top of the blender. 

Blend! For 1-2 minutes until smooth. 

This makes 1 quart of milk. Shake before using, it really separates. 

Voila! Rice milk.

To test this rice milk, I decided to make a pumpkin pie! I love pumpkin pie. And winter spices in general. So... What's next? Rice milk tester, pumpkin pie. 

Toddler Fun: Homemade Play dough!

Play-Doh is so much fun! But it gets too hard too fast. Especially for little 2 year old hands! So today, Kat and I made play dough, problem solved! 

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2 tea cream of tartar

Stir in a pan with 1 cup water

1 Tbl oil (veg or olive)

Cook on med-low for about 5 min. Stir often until mixture is more doughy, stiffens and pulls away from pan. 

Stir in food coloring and 

10-20 drops lemon essential oil. 

Lemon essential oil adds a nice happy smell, it is revitalizing and uplifting. So even toddlers in their terrrrible twos may soon be in a better mood! 

Let cool for a couple minutes. 

Knead dough for a couple minutes. 

I added a little more lemon oil in a thumbprint hole in the dough because I wanted a stronger smell, I think by the end I had 20 drops. 

The dough was really sticky at first. I kept rolling it in flour and squishing and kneading until it wasn't sticky anymore. 

Ready! 

Store in an air tight container. 

And have fun!

Kat played with her play dough in a giant cardboard box- fun, clean, and less cat hair and rug fuzz to contend with. The homemade play dough did leave some oily spots on the cardboard box, but it's totally worth it for the low cost and high fun!

I think this amount of dough would be perfect for 2 colors. I only did one, but to make 2, just divide the dough in half after the essential oil step. Add the color in thumbprint holes and squish and knead it in until it's incorporated. 

For a gluten-free alternative use a 1/2 and 1/2 mixture of rice flour and cornstarch. 

Play dough too dry? Add oil. 

Play dough too sticky? Add flour. 

Play dough too stinky? Add essential oil. 

What's next? Funny Toddler pants! 

Outer Space!

I am fascinated with space. With full intension of buying a telescope asap. Kat is also very into the moon, so I wanted to incorporate space into her bedroom somehow. Welcome to her outer space corner. Complete with solar system mobile, 

Star lights, glow in the dark star stickers,

And galaxy rug! 

I just finished the stars for the rug 😀

I think it's a pretty good beginning to a space corner! 

2/3 update on solar system. Yesterday Kat and I got some sparkly star stickers. Today I added a few constellations to her walls. The Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, 

(Since the Little Dipper has the North Star in it, I made that with 2 stars together. 

And I tried to get the two as close to similar in the sky to each other as I could.)

and the Libra constellation. Pretty cool!    

I love the addition of these constellations!

What's next? In crochet: Blanket redo!

Handmade House: chair slippers

Useful, fun, and cute. They protect the floor we put in ourselves, and add another little handmade cute to my house. Plus a great stash buster, and cheap. 

We have a lot of different dining room chairs, from thrift stores and sales. Keeping costs down for a stay at home mom family is important sometimes. 

Anyway, I love these cute chair and floor protectors. They just slide on the foot of the chair. Easy and effective, made just like teeny tiny hats!

And I got the yarn from my sister who got it from her friend's friend who couldn't use it because she had a ba reaction to the fiber.  Yes, I ran on and on that sentence on purpose! 

These little guys whip up quickly, and don't have to be perfect to look good, or fit on! 

What's next?  A little outer space. 

Toddler fun: Snow Paint!

Coming up with fun, cheap things for my crazy kid to do (2 years old) is both fun and challenging! I've had dried out markers sitting in a drawer for months waiting for an idea. Kat commandeered the lids for monster fingers. 

So when I thought of snow paint, I got very excited! It's simple, washable, non toxic, and fun! Oh, and cheap!

Just soak old markers in water until the tips turn white. I left mine for about a week because I was gone, they don't need that long- probably over night would work just fine! Or you can leave them there until the next snow. 

Transfer to old water bottles with a hole stabbed in the lid. I used an awl tool to poke one hole in the center of each lid. 

Then paint away! 

Of course the best part is jumping on the colored snow! 

I had 3 bottles and 5 colors, so when 2 ran out, I reloaded with a new color. Easy! 

What's next? Homemade play dough! 

Funny baby pants: monkey

I couldn't help but laugh (and need to make) these pants when I saw them on Pinterest. What I found was just a photo, so it was time to figure it out. 

I hope my guessing of size is close enough to actually fit a baby at some point in it's fast growing life! 

I made the waist band first, then worked in rounds. 

Through the monkey head, and added the legs one at a time. 

I hope they are not too short, but I figured better too short than too long for a little baby. Or a learning to walk toddler. And if they are too short, they can be easily folded up as capris. 

The front looks a little silly, but it's worth it for that monkey butt! 

What's next? Chair socks, slippers, shoes. Whatever you want to call them.