Deal of the Day: Tony's Pizza

Admittedly, I remember this pizza as being just terrible. But, somewhere along the line something happened, and now it's not half bad.  It has a chewy-crispy crust that I like much more than the cardboard base of a Jack's or Tombstone, and some kind of gooeyness to the cheese that is just awesome.  Now granted, I wouldn't feed the meat-toppings on a Tony's to a stray cat, but that's okay, because Tony's is so cheap, you can afford to buy one whole pizza for everyone in the house.

Simply buy everyone a cheese pizza, and let each person top it with what they like.  Tonight, it was just the boy and I, and he gobbled cheese while I had broccoli and onion on mine.  If hubby had been home, I would have gotten him some sliced pepperoni (which I just saw at the Dollar Tree, FYI).  I picked up my Tony's  for $1.35 each at Wal-Mart, and I had the broccoli and onions on hand.  Now that's one cheap dinner.

Crock Pot Applesauce!

Aaah...applesauce. A staple of life throughout pregnancy, post-pregnancy, and now the toddler years. I never get tired of it, thankfully, as my son adores the stuff. And remarkably, it's good for you! I've recently stumbled upon some crock pot applesauce recipes, and thought I would share. Here's one from The Humbled Homemaker; I've adapted it only slightly.  Enjoy!

Crockpot Applesauce

• 4-5 lbs. apples (about 12 cups sliced)
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon or nutmeg
•  2 cups water
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Peel, core and thinly slice apples and place in crock-pot.  Add cinnamon or nutmeg.  Pour in water and lemon juice. Cook the usual:  3-4 hours on HIGH or 6-8 hours on LOW.  Stir occasionally.

Applesauce may be a little chunky. Mash with a fork or hit it with the immersion blender if you like smoother applesauce.  Yum!

Disgustingly Cheap DIY Decor

This little project began as a $2 flower purchase at Family Dollar to appease my bored, tired and cranky child.  It was a pretty blue fabric flower with a thick bendable green stem.  When he bored of it a few days later, the fabric flower was sitting on my table, and as I picked up an empty bread crumb container from the floor (one of my son's many "drums"), it hit me - insta-vase!

I simply covered the bread crumb container with scrapbook-quality paper, and shaped the stem to hold the flower upright inside of the vase.  Now I have a cute little decoration for my table.  A little cheesy?  Maybe.  But it is cute and there aren't many 2-year-old friendly centerpieces out there.


Here's how to make your own:


Your supplies:
One fabric flower with bendable stem
One empty and rinsed out cardboard bread crumb container
Good quality glue or rubber cement
Good quality paper (thick enough so that the glue won't show through)



Cut  your paper so that it fits the container, and add a strip of glue to get it started.

There's a little white rim around the top of the container.  Tuck the paper under this.



Add glue to the rest of the paper.

Roll the paper around the container, tucking it under the little white rim as you go.



Give it a minute or two to dry, and then trim off any excess paper from the bottom of the container with scissors.

Take the bendy stem and form it so that it sits in the cup and holds the flower upright.

And voila!  The world's cheapest DIY vase!  It's pretty cute on my table, or on the half wall between my kitchen and living room (below).  I think it would also be cute to do a few and use them as part of a tablescape for an outdoor party, a kid's party, or even a baby or bridal shower.