Thrifty Living

The BEST homemade sweet + sour chicken! (gluten free too)

February 19, 2017 by Tanya 19 Comments

Even before breaking up with gluten six years ago, I had tried numerous times to create a crispy and sweet version of one of my restaurant faves.

Each time it was ok, the sauce was pretty good but the chicken pieces were kind of……meh.

Not great and I would eat it of course but not be thrilled.

UNTIL NOW Y’ALL!

Since making this a few weeks ago the fam has requested it over and over.

So I have had to get creative and use BBQ dipping sauce and a few other things to make this crew of chicken fans happy. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Gluten Free Recipes, Thrifty Living Tagged With: #glutenfreerecipes #chickenrecipes #sweetandsourchicken, chicken recipes, gluten free recipes, money saving recipes, sweet and sour chicken

7 things you should buy at thrift stores

February 8, 2017 by Tanya 8 Comments

Walking around my home with my coffee recently I realized that I have more second hand items than not.

If you have followed twelveOeight for a while or you are new here (yay thank you everyone for your love and support!) you will probably see that my PASSION is to turn nothing into something fabulous.

So…I began thinking that it would be fun to do a series on what a 30 year veteran of thrifting does to score those finds.

When Macklemore came out with Thrift Shop a few years ago, I instantly loved the song, and him (ok there may be a secret crush going on too hee hee) and listen to his music often. While we don’t pop any tags lol, we do believe that paying full price or spending $50 on a t-shirt is getting swindled by an industry. Not only that but look at how full our landfills would be if everyone just discarded their furniture, home goods, clothes etc… when they no longer wanted them.

YES!!! This is where it gets good. One come up coming at you.

I can remember the first yard sale in my neighborhood as a kid. My family were not thrifters, in fact I was an only child for 15 years and my Mom loved her some Nordstrom. So I was accustomed to all that came with having a Mom and Grandma to hang out with who LOVED to shop.

I watched the neighbors set up their tables, then out came box after box full of dishes and lamps, and paintings, and some furniture. After I could take it no longer (I am pretty sure this is the test for a lover of all things thrift. Watch your heart rate and how fast you grab your wallet when you see a yard sale or new thrift shop.) I had to see what they were doing. [Read more…]

Filed Under: DIY, How To Save Money, Thrifty Living

Peanut Noodles with Chicken (gluten free!)

January 29, 2017 by Tanya 6 Comments

I love noodles, cover them in a million different sauces or leave them buttered with some parsley and you can count me in.

And what’s better than combining a delicious peanut sauce with tender pieces of chicken?

Well you could make it gluten free.

And make it in less than 30 minutes.

Now we’re talking, and this dish is so darn good.

I love the flavors of combining the peanut butter with sesame oil. This has become a dish my family asks for often and when the ingredients are easy to pull together and dinner is on the table that fast….I am more than happy to oblige.

Plus, if I haven’t said it yet, I LOVE THIS DISH SO MUCH. And so does my gluten-intolerant tummy.

We are both happy and full, and even better, you can make a big batch and nom on this for lunch the next day.

Yep, everyone will think you were in the kitchen forever, and that you are a master of noodles and peanut sauce.

It’s ok, I won’t tell anyone how easy this is if you don’t.

Let’s COOK!

Peanut Noodles with Chicken

Ingredients

16 ounces of gluten free spaghetti noodles
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup sesame oil
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup of orange juice
6 T. rice vinegar
4 T. gluten free soy sauce
4 T. hot chili oil
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups of diced cooked chicken (I like to dice and saute chicken thighs in a bit of coconut oil)
2/3 cup sliced green onion to garnish
Optional: finely chopped peanuts to garnish

Cook and drain pasta according to directions.

In a bowl combine peanut butter, sesame oil, canola oil, orange juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce and chili oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Toss cooked chicken, pasta, and peanut sauce together, fill your bowls and top with sliced green onions and chopped peanuts if you like.

Serves 4-6 main dish servings

Voila! You are done and can enjoy a great meal with family and friends, and not spend all evening in the kitchen either.

Stay crafty-

xo, Tanya

linking up to: http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/

And these awesome parties: http://www.twelveoeightblog.com/awesome-link-parties

Filed Under: Gluten Free Recipes, Thrifty Living Tagged With: gluten free recipes, peanut noodles with chicken

Slow cooker white chicken chili

January 22, 2017 by Tanya 2 Comments

We use our slow cooker year round, in the summer a big pot of pork carnitas or baked beans keep the kitchen cool by avoiding turning the oven on.

And in the fall and winter…well…it’s a slow-cooker-palooza every week and I find myself using ours at least three times a week if not more.

I love to make big batches of beef chili, spaghetti sauce to freeze and homemade refried beans in my slow cooker. Beans seem to work their way into many dishes as they are a great source of protein, easy on the budget and really good for you.

I decided to do a little use-what-you-have cooking before we went on our monster Costco and Winco shopping trip recently. I like to do a quick re-organize of my pantry shelves and deep freezer so things don’t get “lost” in the back and never used, and so I stock up but avoid over-buying. Which is very easy to do at Costco.

I saw that I had some frozen chicken breasts, and canned white beans, along with a can of green chilies in hand I knew I had the makings for a belly warming pot of good for you white chicken chili. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Gluten Free Recipes, Slow Cooker Recipes, Thrifty Living

DIY recycled t-shirt wall art

January 17, 2017 by Tanya 6 Comments

I graduated from High School in 1989.

That puts me at 45 today, and while some things have changed so much, my love of rock t-shirts, all things Stevie Nicks, and dreams of travelling Europe with a backpack and train pass have never changed.

I grew up on a small working farm, raised by my organic-gardening grandparents while my mom sorted fruit for a local orchard.

On sunny days you could find my running between the fruit trees and when the weather was cold, pouring over my mom’s impressive collection of records and deciding if I needed to sew a new halter top.

Years have passed and I think I still have her first Beatles record in my own collection buried between some New Order and the Doors.

Somewhere in my teens a love of thrifting and upcycling emerged, and I suppose some might say hoarding. I have however purged collected items many times over, keeping a core group of treasures that I am sure I could not live without. So we will not call it hoarding but curating a collection of things that bring us joy.

Yes, that sounds so much better.

Recently while trolling through my local Goodwill I came across a navy tank top that had an embroidery skull that caught my eye. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Boho Style, DIY, home decor, Thrifty Living

How to make the best Spanish Rice ever

July 11, 2016 by Tanya 6 Comments

Rice seems like an easy enough thing to make.

For whatever reason, mastering how to cook rice has eluded me.

I love it, it’s gluten free (yay, makes grumpy tummies happy) and easy on the budget.

Enter my desire to make Spanish Rice.

I thought it was the recipe, so I tried every single recipe out there. And I have had zero success in achieving the fluffy, non-sticky rice at our favorite Mexican restaurants. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Gluten Free Recipes, Thrifty Living, Uncategorized

hand stamped clementine tea towel

January 13, 2016 by Tanya 1 Comment

This time of year I find myself buying boxes and boxes of these sweet, petite little orange like gems.

The kids gobble them up and we just cannot seem to get enough of them.

Having said that, the massive consumption of them around our house inspired this diy hand stamped tea towel so long after they are out of season we can enjoy how pretty they are as well.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: craft, Decorating, DIY, Thrifty Living

DIY Boho Chic Firewood Holder

October 8, 2015 by Tanya 4 Comments

I recently cleaned out about 85% of my garage.

Y’all it was kind of scary.

And cathartic.

And I don’t need to go hunting for cool stuff to upcycle for a while since I had my own thrift store already and didn’t know it!

It has been a monkey on my back forever, and it’s SO much better. Just a little more to do and it will be neat and I will know exactly where everything is. A far cry from 30 days ago. For real. I could have been on an A & E show for people that cannot throw things away, or stop shopping 2nd hand.

Or both 🙂

But, I sure am glad I found a nice stack of stuff to work on, because when I came across this pleather storage cube without a lid, I could not imagine what I would do with no lid. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Boho Style, Decorating, DIY, home decor, Thrifty Living

DIY Scrap Wood Wall Hanging

October 7, 2015 by Tanya 3 Comments

Hello there!!

I hope this finds you have a fabulous week and enjoying your October, and while I should be thinking about costumes, and pumpkins and floating frozen ice hands for punch bowls, I find myself making other stuff so far this month.

Like this scrap wood flooring project that I am excited to share with you today!

Every DIY project is a bit of an adventure.

There are many you never see (and I never want to see again either!) as the idea was great but it flopped in the end.

I am not sure any project ever really turns out exactly how you think it is going to.

I guess that has to be part of the creative process.

Sometimes you start out with a pile of stuff and it goes SUCH a different direction, do you have that happen too? [Read more…]

Filed Under: DIY, home decor, Modern Decor, Thrifty Living

Inspiration Monday Party!! Features perfect for MOM!

May 3, 2015 by Tanya 3 Comments

Welcome to Inspiration Monday, we’re so glad you are here!

If you’re needing a little inspiration, you are definitely at the right place.

Spend a few minutes browsing all the fabulous and creative

ideas our readers have shared below. Of course

, if you’re a blogger,

link your latest creations and have your work

seen on 7 different blogs!

I Should Be Mopping the Floor | Refresh Restyle

Redhead Can Decorate| Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom

twelveOeight | What Meegan Makes | Your Homebased Mom

This week’s features were selected by Leigh Anne from Your Homebased Mom

Mother’s Day is almost here so today we are featuring some fun ideas to make mom’s day a little more special. Be sure and share these ideas with whoever is in charge of spoiling mom at your house!

[Read more…]

Filed Under: craft, Decorating, DIY, Link Party, Recipes, Thrifty Living