Money Making Ideas

I'm a stay at home mom and student, I don't have an income but I do look for ways to make a little extra money.

Mystery Shopping:
I've signed up for many of these but I live in Alaska and there are not many opportunities here! Additionally I suffer from Social Anxiety Disorder so ones that involve too much social interaction I can't do. Hopefully one day I can and 'Mystery Shopping' is helpful for me to force myself outside my comfort zone!
     Mystery Shoppers Provider Association
     MSIS Shopper
     ICCDS
     Beyond Hello
     KSS International
     Market Foce
     Shop N’ Chek
     National Shopping Service
     Trend Source

Online Surveys:
You won't make much but you could probably turn out $5-10 a week!
     SurveySavvy
     Synovate Global Opinion Panel
     MySurvey
     American Consumer Opinion
     SurveySpot
     SurveyHead
     Toluna (points for polls as well)

Earn Money for Searching the Web and more
Earn points searching and shopping online. With Inbox Dollars and MyPoints you also can also earn points reading emails.

     Inbox Dollars
     MyPoints
     Swagbucks

*More about Swagbucks:
Being a student, I do a lot of research so Swagbucks is just awesome because I make money doing my homework by using Swagbucks as my main search engine. With one research paper, I made enough points for a $5 Amazon gift card!

There are many ways to make Swagbucks: searching, NOSO, daily polls, downloading the toolbar, filling out trusted surveys, watching short videos, playing games, doing tasks, and even printing and using coupons. Every 450 points you can earn a $5 gift card, such as the Amazon gift card, or you can redeem points for other items. You can get bigger gift card amounts but the $5 is a better deal for the points!

You can easily get over 20 Swagbucks a day in about 10 minutes or less. (Which would equal more than enough for a $5 Amazon gift card)
     Search - you can easily get 15+ Swagbucks per day
     NOSO (you can skip all of the offers) — 2 Swagbucks
     Take the Daily Poll — 1 Swagbuck
     Login Via the Toolbar — 1 Swagbuck
     Click on Trusted Surveys — 1 Swagbucks
     Watch 10 videos on Swagbucks TV - 3 Swagbucks

Make Money on your Phone
I've recently discovered there are apps on your phone where you can earn points for prizes, such as gift cards. Additionally some survey sites also have apps to do surveys on the go.
Field Agent (mystery shopping app)
WeReward (Check-ins and product scans)
CheckPoints (Check-ins and product scans)
App Trailers (watch app trailers and download apps for points)
Locately
Thumbspeak
SurveyApp
Toluna
iPoll (SurveyHead)

Bayou Bread Pudding

This pudding reminded me of the bread pudding I used to eat at my uncles cafeteria! Yum! We served our bread pudding with green vanilla pudding (the Jello 'color change' kind). We named our green pudding 'Swamp Pudding.' The kids took to the green pudding better than my husband and I. It was weird eating something that green and oozy! 

Butter, for greasing the pan
9 cups dry bread, in 1-inch cubes (if bread is not dry toast the bread until dry)
1 cup pineapple cubes
1/2 cup raisins
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of salt
3 cups milk
5 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Caramel sauce or whipped cream

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch baking pan

Combine bread cubes, pineapple, and raisins in a large mixing bowl and sprinkle on the cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Toss all of the ingredients together.

In a saucepan, combine milk and butter and warm them over medium-low heat. Remove from heat once the butter melts and stir in the brown sugar. Pour the milk mixture over the bread and stir until completely moistened. Let it sit for 5 minutes to absorb all of the liquid.

While waiting, in a small bowl whisk together eggs and vanilla extract. Gently add egg mixture to the bread mixture. Pour the pudding into the greased pan and bake for 45-60 minutes. Serve the pudding warm and cut into squares topped with caramel sauce or whipped cream.


Recipe adapted from the book: Disney's The Princess and the Frog Tiana's Cookbook Recipes for Kids. Copyright © 2009 Disney Enterprises, Inc. Published by Disney Press, an Imprint of Disney Book Group.

Tricolor Vegetable Pasta with Andouille Sausage in Garlic-Oil Sauce

I recently bought Tricolor Rotini and I decided to make Tricolor Vegetable and Sausage Pasta in Garlic-Oil Sauce. I used Andouille sausage because I like the flavor and I had some left over from a previous recipe!

This was very quick to make. Have the pasta cooking while you slice and cook the vegetables and sausage and make the garlic sauce. I think this recipe took me only 15-20 minutes!

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1 green bell pepper, sliced

1 onion, sliced

1/2 pound cooked Andouille sausage, or any other sausage, sliced

1 box Tricolor Rotini

1/2 olive oil

1 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt, about a teaspoon but add more according to taste
pepper, to taste


Cook the tricolor rotini according to package instructions.

While rotini is cooking, heat about a tablespoon olive oil in a deep skilled over medium-high heat. Place the bell peppers, onions, and sausage in the skillet and season with garlic, salt and pepper. Cook covered, stirring occasionally, until onions are transparent, peppers are tender, and the sausage is thoroughly heated. Add about 1/2 cup olive oil. Re-season to taste, if necessary.

Drain the pasta and place back in pot. Pour the vegetables, sausage, and garlic-oil sauce over the pasta and mix well. Enjoy!

Turkey Shepherd's Pie

I never had Shepherd's pie before and this recipe was amazing!!! My husband LOVED it! This recipe makes 6 servings, which for my family was enough for dinner with enough left over for lunch the next day for me and my youngest (everyone else is gone).

4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 slices of bacon, chopped

2 pounds ground turkey

pepper

2 onions

2 carrots

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons poultry seasoning

2/3 cup milk, cream, or half-and-half

1 egg beaten

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons fresh chives

1 cup frozen peas

1 teaspoon paprika

Place potatoes in a pot, sprinkle with salt, and cover with water. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook the potatoes until tender, about 15 minutes.

While the potatoes are cooking, heat olive oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the bacon until crisp, then add the ground turkey. Season the turkey with salt and pepper then break-up and brown for 5 minutes. Add the carrots, onions, Worcestershire sauce, poultry seasoning and salt and pepper, to taste. Turn the heat to medium and partially cover with a lid or use a foil tent, cook for 10-12 minutes.

Preheat the broiler to high. 

Drain the potatoes and place back in the warm pot. Smash the potatoes with a potato masher. Add in 1/3 cup milk, egg, butter, chives, salt and pepper and continue mashing until potatoes are almost smooth. 

Uncover turkey and turn off the heat, stir in the peas and 1/3 cup milk. Scrape the turkey mixture into a casserole dish and top with a thick layer of mashed potatoes. Brown potatoes under the broiler for 5-10 minutes. When done, sprinkle with paprika. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from the book: Rachael Ray Yum-O The Family Cookbook. Copyright © 2008 by Yum-o! Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

Avgolemono Soup

6 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup orzo (you can substitute rice)
salt and pepper to taste
1 chicken bullion cube
3 eggs
1-2 lemons, juice of

Combine chicken broth, rice, salt, pepper and bullion cube in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until orzo is tender.

In a bowl, beat eggs until fluffy and pale yellow. Stir in lemon juice. Stir about 2 cups of the hot broth into the egg-lemon mixture, so that the eggs do not curdle. Pour the lemon-egg mixture into the rest of the soup and stir. Enjoy!

Greek Recipes

Thinking about soup has made me think about my favorite soup, Avgolemono Soup, a Greek egg-lemon-chicken-rice soup .

My family is Greek so I make traditional Greek foods at home such as:
Avgolemono Soup (egg-lemon-chicken-rice soup)
Spanakopeta (spinach peta)
Batsaria (layered spinach peta)
Tyropeta (cheese peta)
Psari Plaki (baked fish and vegetables)
Souvlakia (Sish-ke-bob)
Stuffed Tomatoes and Peppers
Beef Stew
Sarmades (stuffed cabbage leaves)
Spinach and Lima Bean Casserole
Green Beans in Tomato Sauce
Tsoureki (Easter Bread)

There are a million more recipes I would like to try to make that I ate growing up but haven't attempted yet for my family.

I also want to try my hand at some at the deserts! I love Bakalava, Galaktobouriko, and Theples but I've never attempted to make my own!

Quick Traditional Chicken Noodle Soup

This is a very quick chicken noodle soup. It took about 1/2 a hour to make. This recipe was very good, and it had a hint of sweetness to it. My own recipe is similar to this except I don't use dill and instead I use oregano, parsley, basil, and garlic.

2 tablespoons olive oil
5-6 Celery ribs from heart to leafy tops, chopped
3-4 medium carrots, thinly slices
1 large onion chopped
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
8-10 cups chicken stock (recipe called for 8 but it was very thick so I added 2 more cups)
1/2 pound egg noodles
1 pound chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup chopped dill

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until no longer pink. Add the celery, carrots, onions, bay leaf and salt and pepper, to taste. Cook the vegetables until tender, about 10 minutes. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add in the egg noodles and simmer for 10 minutes, until noodles are tender. Stir in the dill and discard the bay leaf. Enjoy!


Recipe adapted from the book: Rachael Ray Yum-O The Family Cookbook. Copyright © 2008 by Yum-o! Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

Rainbow Jello

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Today I didn't do much cooking. For lunch, we made frozen corn dogs and green beans (gold nuggets and hills of green). I'm so corny, lol!

For dinner, my 2 year old really wanted to go out so we took the kiddos to McDonalds for dinner and scratched my making something Irish! I was tired by dinner because our neighbor, my husband, and I were deicing ours and our neighbors parking spaces. There are inches of ice built up and it was loose today since it was warmer (20s-30s) so we finished our space and I'm excited to say we finally found both yellow lines. In all we cleared out 4 spaces: the guest space, our helpful neighbors space, our other neighbors space, and our own space! We were out there for hours! Whew! I was not at all against not cooking dinner after that! But I did make dessert! That is something!!!!

This wasn't hard, just time consuming. To make this, you have to make each layer individually and let it firm before adding the next layer. I used the 'quick set' method and was able to make this in about 3 hours with about 15 minutes of work.

Ingredients:
Jello mixes:
      1 red (cherry or strawberry)
      1 orange
      1 yellow (lemon)
      2 green (lime)
      1 dark red (black cherry)
blue food coloring
water
ice

Start by making dark red jello, according to the package, but add a few drops of blue food coloring until it looks purple. Pour the jello into the glasses and let is set in the fridge for 30 minutes. I recommend setting them on a cookie sheet or a plate to make getting them in and out of the fridge easier and quicker.

After 30 minutes, make 1 package of green jello, according to the package, but add a lot of blue food coloring until it reaches the desired shade of blue. Pour* the jello into the glasses and let is set in the fridge for 30 minutes.

For the rest of the colors, make the jello, according to the package, and pour* into the glasses and let is set in the fridge for 30 minutes. Repeat until finished layering all colors. After finishing the red layer, let the jello firm up for at least an hour.


*I do recommend spooning the liquid into the glasses because pouring can break the layer beneath it. Or another method I did was I held the spoon in the glass and poured the liquid onto the spoon using it like an impact buffer.

Living in Alaska

Shoveling - not fun but a great work out!
Cold - just sucks... its sad when 20°F feels warm and 30°F is going coatless weather!!
Snow - fun, but gets old! It's been snowing since mid-October and look how much snow is still on the ground mid-March!
Nature - Just stunningly beautiful! Those humongous mountains and the trees, even all the pure white snow... it's breathtaking!
Wildlife - awesome.... especially when a moose walks down your street!!!

Since I've never posted any of my Alaska pictures... let me include some of my favorites here!

These are from September 2011 when I first moved here!

Here's the view from my front yard!

It started to snow about a month after I got here so I have a lot of snow pictures... here are some of my favorites.

Here's a photo of a 3:30pm sunset! This was taken in December when the sun rises about 10am and sets about 3:30!

 And here is one of my absolute favorites! I took this in January right after it snowed heavily... all the trees were perfectly dusted with snow!

BLT Spread

This spread was delicious. The leeks oniony flavor was a bit strong for my taste so I will probably use a little less leek next time. 

4 slices of bacon, chopped, any kind (recipe said turkey bacon, I used real bacon, vegetarians could use tofu bacon)
1 small leek (or 1/4-1/2 normal sized leek, depending on taste), white and tender green parts, quartered and  finely chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 plum tomato (or about 1/2 a small-medium sized slicing tomato), seeded and finely chopped

Drizzle a pan with olive oil and saute the leeks until tender, about 2-3 minutes*. Season with salt and pepper.
Mix bacon, leeks, and tomatoes in a bowl and fold in the cream cheese until well combined. Enjoy.


*I choose not to cook my leeks and added them raw because I didn't want to add a bunch of oil to the mix since I was already using regular greasy bacon. I also liked the crunch of the leeks. I also did not add any salt or pepper. It tasted wonderful with raw leeks and I really don't think it needed any extra salt since cream cheese is salty enough.


Recipe adapted from the book: Rachael Ray Yum-O The Family Cookbook. Copyright © 2008 by Yum-o! Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.