Vegan Cajun Risotto Bites- video!

Tonight, I was YouTube scanning. And happily enough I ended up watching The Vegan Zombie for about 20 minutes. My favorite- and also my dinner- were the Cajun Risotto Bites.

 Now, did I follow the recipe exactly? No.   I didn't follow through and fry the bites. I didn't use home made veg stock. Also, I used a little less rice and a little more stock. Oh, and I didn't make my own Cajun  spice.... But what I did use all came together GREAT!

Definitely for a quick and easy dish. Simple enough that I might even teach the husband how to make it.

Vegan Onion Fried Rice

I'm basically a lazy person. Deep down inside I have pep and spunk- but on a day to day basis I keep is pretty low key and lazy.

My simple weeknight meal that can be 3 ingredients or it an be 7 (depending on what's in the crisper) is:

Onion Fried Rice

2 - 2.5 Cups Cooked Rice
3 green onions (or more if you like), chopped
Minimum 3 cloves of garlic, sliced/chopped/minced
+/- 5 Tbsp Soy Sauce
2-3 Tbsp Cooking Oil

Optional:

dab of ginger paste
can of water chestnuts
1 c. frozen peas*
1/2 c. Shallots or Onions, chopped
1-2 tsp. Hoisin sause
Healthy dash of Sriracha

Directions:

Steam your rice.
In a bowl mix 2-3 Tbsp Soy Sauce, Onions, and Garlic
Heat oil in your wok, add Onion mix and saute until every thing's good and translucent.
Turn heat to low and add rice.
stir a lot if it looks too dry add a little soy sauce or even a good dash of water (2tsps)

*If you're adding peas wait until the very end when you add your rice.

Simple, Vegan, and easy to reheat the next day. It's great for clearing out the crisper and super cheap if you're on a budget.

5 TIPS FOR DIAPER RESALE

1.      Take care of them. Spray well, wash well, and maintain them. Diapers with lots of staining are FAR harder to sell than diapers with wear signs
   
   
2.   Be honest and descriptive in photos. If the diaper has a worn spot along the elastic, take a photo. Moms know what will and won’t affect function. 
   
3.       People love to win, so start your bidding price low.
   
4.       Research and be aware of shipping costs. Shoot- you can use a stamp for anything less than 13oz that’s in an envelope of any size. Yes is easy to just give in and pay for the flat rate box.  But personally, are you willing to spend $8 on shipping ever? Nope, me either. The average AIO only weighs like 7 oz. It shouldn’t cost more than $2 to ship in a large manila envelope (from the dollar store). Which leads me to my next suggestion.
   
5.      Buy your shipping supplies from the dollar store. You get like 5-6 large manila envelopes for $1! 

If you're buying smart and taking care of your stash- there's no reason you can't make a majority (if not all) of your money back on the diapers you need to destash.

Cloth Diaper Resale

Recently I decided to get serious about paring down my diaper stash. I have just too much to justify holding on to the diapers I like less than others. I’ve been at the cloth diapering game for almost a year now, which puts me in the latter half of the stash cycle anyway.

I like to use eBay. It’s where I bought a lot of my diapers, so it’s only right to sell them there as well.  What I discovered was that my diapers held up well in the resale market.

I sold a Coolababy, Velcro Pocket OS diaper with insert for $5 + $2 shipping. I paid $8.99 for two originally + like $3 shipping.

So $5.99 originally and sold for $7 used. Not bad at all. 

I sold a BumGenius Elemental Organic All in One Aplix for $9.50 + $2.77 shipping.  Originally I spent $6.50 + $2.77 shipping. So again, I made more on the diapers than I spent.

I participate in a local diaper consignment sale, which I didn’t sell as much or for as much profit. Maybe it’s a Midwestern thing, but we don’t like to go out and spend money. I had a couple of Kissaluvs Size 2 in that sale and only managed to sell them (unused, just prepped) for $5 each. 

Obviously, not all sales are going to yield a profit. But, if you take good care of your stash and present it well, there’s no reason why you can’t make almost all of your money back on the diapers you don’t like as much as the others.