More Bang for Your Buck at The Dollar Tree

Today I made my pre-Christmas grocery list and because I was dying to get in the holiday spirit even more, I added the items needed to make some of our favorite Christmas staples, plus some good food gifts.

I knew I wanted to make my boss his favorite linzer tart cookies, they were a big hit last year and his sweet tooth has only gotten more ferocious in 2014.

The old fashioned apple stack cake I made for Thanksgiving was requested again for our employee potluck on Wednesday.

There's no rain in sight, so the humidity is just right for J to make the old family recipe for delectable peanut butter fudge.

And it's just not Christmas until we break out two of my mom's classic recipes - peanut butter sandwich cookies (gluten-free and only 4 ingredients!) and spiced hard candy.

Mom's hard candy takes a certain touch - no candy thermometer used here, just the "feel" of the molten sugar - and is not for the faint of heart. We used to make batch after batch after batch when I was a kid and I'd pass it out to all my classmates and teachers. But as often happens, time got in the way of tradition and we haven't made any in years. So we had to initiate J into the cinnamon candy cult. 

At the "hard crack" stage

Cooling on a marble slab on our coffee bar (more on the "Dream Kitchen" later)

Our final product!

All of these projects made for quite the grocery list of ingredients, tools and containers. And I knew today's haul had the potential to be a bank-breaker; but we were able to save a ton at our local Dollar Tree.

I've been a devout customer since I started getting an allowance as a tween and realized I could buy 10x more tacky, glitter makeup there than at Wal Mart (the early '00s was an awkward time for girl fashion). But I was completely converted in college when DT started renovating their stores to carry a wider variety of higher quality goods - that were all still a dollar. I don't know if it was a stroke of genius or by necessity (what with the recession forcing more people to shop on a budget) but stores expanded to offer more food (even frozen items!), party supplies, bake wear and huge seasonal departments. Our town just renovated their location within the past two years and I couldn't be more grateful. 

DT offers great savings for so many aspects of my life: 

• As a DIY wreath maker, I'm able to get good quality silk flowers and wire ribbon for, you guessed it, a dollar. 
• I still write letters and the stationary at the Tree is wonderful and truly inexpensive; greeting cards are 2/$1! They even carry shipping supplies for when I send care packages to my adorable nieces.
• Their kitchen department carries a number of handy items, from decent dinnerware to utensils perfect for taking to the office to disposable aluminum pans in a variety of sizes (these are perfect for pot lucks!); and even legit cake pans. 
• I can't say enough good things about their food section. You can get name brand items for only four quarters! Most of the items are full-sized and obviously, a great deal - like cans of Hunts crushed tomatoes, bags of walnuts or packs of Hormel pepperoni. But, some of them are in smaller portions and are incredibly helpful for cooking-for-two or new recipes. For example, J's fudge recipe only needs 3 T of corn syrup, so there's no point in buying a giant bottle of Caro that will just make everything sticky; DT carries a little 8 oz. bottle. 
• And the seasonal section is filled with adorable containers. Tins, snack bags, pails and boxes - for all your Christmas goodies! Just look at what we bought for our hard candy. Plus, I bought a snowflake-themed cardboard box for cookies. 

Today, we were able to buy over a third of the items on our list (plus some extras) at the Dollar Tree for only $16!

If you're looking to save some money, or just looking for quality, adorable items for almost any occasion, pop in to your local Dollar Tree and explore! You'll be amazed at how much you can get for your money... but also how quickly you'll fill your cart!

Must-Have Kitchen Tools

Food Network Magazine did an interesting feature this month where big-name chefs did shout outs about some of their favorite ingredients. Normally on cooking shows, labels are distorted or fake labels are affixed to cans so as to not show preference (read: lose advertisers). But in this article, they were able to dish on their favorite name brands of everything from salt to olive oil to cookies.

I wanted to take a page out of their magazine (pun totally intended) and give you some of my favorite, name brand kitchen tools. I have a long list of things that every cook needs in their kitchen, but here are a few products whose brand-specific details and quality I endorse and would encourage you to bring into your homes.


Ninja Master Prep food processor - I got this as a fluke from my grandmother who buys practically everything QVC's "In the Kitchen With David" has to offer. It's a set of 4 blender "cups" or "pitchers" with multiple blades. You can set up each cup/pitcher with the associated blade(s) and plunk the motor on and off with ease. This thing does everything! The only food processor task I wouldn't trust to it would be making dough for pastas or pie - I think the cups are too narrow and it would glob up easier. I use this frequently to make sure my purees and soups are silky smooth.



Kitchen Aid Artisan Series stand mixer - The green apple stand mixer was our one big ticket item on our wedding registry and we were beyond thrilled when we found out it had been purchased. I was so excited to get it home and add this wonderful pop of color and practicality to our countertop. It came with three mixing attachments - a whisk, a paddle and a dough hook, stainless steel bowl and splatter guard. We've used it to make whipped creams, cookies, cakes and bread dough. It is so useful and so beautiful. I'm really excited to buy more attachments too - I'd love to try out the pasta maker and I've used my parents' meat grinder attachment to make my own, healthier ground chicken. My only complaint is that it can sometimes be too big to make servings for two - I can't make half a cup of whipped cream because the bowl is too big and the whisk doesn't reach the cream! However, if you want to make sure you can avoid that, you could get the Professional 600 grade which has a moveable bowl that can lift up higher to do small jobs.



Rachael Ray hard anodized cookware - There are some pieces of cookware that no matter how careful you are, how mindful you are of seasoning and greasing your pots and pans you will continue to burn food and have stuck-on messes to clean up. However, sometimes you find a cookware line that no matter what you do to it, cooking and cleaning are a breeze! They come in great sizes that fit perfectly on the burners and have easy-to-hold handles which are oven safe up to 400 degrees. We received these at a wedding shower, just in time because our best nonstick pans were totally worn out. We've used this set for over six months and they don't show any age on them at all. I will say that we've been trying to take very good care of them when cleaning - hand washing only - but when cooking, we've been pretty rough on them, as rough as two foodies would be; but they still look brand new!



Keurig K45 Elite brewing system - J, a coffee freak, would probably say that this was the best gift we've received. Despite my love of coffee ice cream, I cannot stand the taste of hot coffee, but even I have found our Keurig handy. They are so convenient - water stays hot and you can have any drink within 30 seconds, and the K cups come in almost any flavor and variety - from a million coffees to cocoa to cider, tea and more. It's also helpful for me in recipes that require small amounts of hot water - like instant potatoes or some homemade icings.

Pyrex or Temp-tations containers - I refuse to buy unitasking kitchen items - like avocado slicers - why take up cabinet space with something that only does one stupid thing?! Pyrex and Temp-tations containers are so incredibly useful because they're microwave, oven and freezer safe. I love making freezer-friendly meals   and these dishes make that so much easier. I can pre- or par-cook my meals in the oven and then immediately pop them into the freezer. They're easy to stack and store and keep our foods safe and freezer-burn free. I love that the Pyrex dishes are see-thru so I can easily tell what's in there (I label everything with masking tape, too). But one of the biggest selling points of Temp-tations is that they are adorably decorated with hand painted designs, so you can go from oven to freezer to oven to table and they look beautiful and most sets come with trivets and carrying baskets, too!

Now, I have to know - what kitchen tools and you not live without?