My friend Carrie, of Coupon Closet, lives in Oklahoma with her family. The Tornado formed near her house, but they were fortunate and did not have any damage. Unfortunately many of their friends have experienced devastating losses. Today, Carrie is sharing ways that you can help the victims of the tornado. She has specific ways that locals can help and has researched legitimate organizations where you can donate money.

Now is the time for us to help.

We can unite and help out the victims. The saying “something is better than nothing” is not true in this case. They NEED specific items.

Right now, MONEY is what they need. Any amount is good. Any link that I include on here are secure links and are safe and your money will be put to good use.

Monetary Donations:

You can donate any monetary donations via THIS website. This is the United Methodist Church and the money will go directly to those affected.

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Non-perishable food, water, clean-up supplies, diapers, clothing etc. can be taken to:

FEED THE CHILDREN – 333 N Meridian (Corner of Reno and Meridian)
FOOD BANK – 3355 S Purdue (972-1111) (Corner of 29th and McArthur)
CHANNEL 9 NEWS – 7401 N Kelly (843-6641)
KFOR – 444 E Britton (424-4444)
KOCO 5 – 1228 E Wilshire (478-3434)

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Yukon High School

The Yukon high School StuCo and Leadership will be collecting

• water bottles
• Gatorade
• diapers
• baby wipes
• baby formula
• work gloves
• trash bags
• individual wrapped snacks
• hand sanitizer, hand towels
• sunscreen, batteries
• flashlights and money

These will be delivered to the Salvation Army for distribution.

Please bring items to the Yukon High School Rotunda by Wednesday 5/23/13 at 3:30pm

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All Edmond Schools are taking donations

The high schools in Edmond are collecting donations. North is collecting water, Santa Fe is collecting canned goods and Memorial is collecting clothes.

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St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church

This is my church and it is located at SW 119th and May. They need non-perishable food items, water, and clean-up supplies (rakes, shovels, heavy duty gloves, etc).

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More Ways to Help:

www.SalvationArmyUSA.org or call 1-800-SAL-ARMY (1-800-725-2769). Text the word “STORM” to 80888 to make a $10 donation through your phone; to confirm your gift, respond with the word “Yes.”

Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma
www.regionalfoodbank.org or call 604-7111 or text FOOD to 32333 to give $10 to relief efforts.

American Red Cross
Visit redcross.org, dialing 1-800-REDCROSS or texting REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

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Donate to the Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief to help provide tree removal services, laundry services and meals to victims of disasters. Send checks to BGCO, Attn: Disaster Relief, 3800 N. May Ave., Oklahoma City, OK., 73112. (please do not send clothing)

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If you would like to Volunteer to help you can apply here.

Remember to pray for these families!

Thanks Carrie!

I will be updating this post as Carrie provides more information.

Free Cookbooks on Kindle:

How to Cook Healthy in a Hurry

40 Fabulous Chicken Recipes For Dinner For Your Slow Cooker

29 Gluten Free Healthy Slow Cooker Recipes – Easy Slow Cooker Recipes

Hearty Slow Cooker Soups & Stews

Top 50 Most Delicious Homemade Ice Cream Recipes

While How to be Gluten-Free is not a cookbook (it does include some recipes in the index), it is an incredible resource for those who have just found out that they have to follow a gluten-free diet.

My garden is over flowing with lettuces and other salad greens, so this week’s menu is filled with a week’s worth of salads. I don’t think my garden is going to slow down, so I am happy to continue finding free salad cookbooks on Kindle:

Salads With a Vegetarian Variety

50 Delicious Salads, Dressings, and Dip Recipes

Super Delicious Mediterranean Salad Recipes

Free Gardening Books on Kindle:

Herbs

Tomato Container Gardening

If you like discovering free books on Kindle, you will find a daily list of free books on Kindle at Saving in Nevada.

I don’t know how long this book will be free, so check the price before you download it. You don’t have to have a Kindle to take advantage of this deal. You can download Free Kindle Apps for your Computer or Smart Phone.

We live in the country, have pets, and children, which is the perfect combination for creating some pretty awesome carpet stains. Seriously, if they gave out awards for carpet stains my family would win it!

I don’t like to use harsh chemicals anywhere that my kids play and my youngest son spends a lot of time playing on our living room floor, so when I have to clean our carpets, I look for eco-friendly solutions. Fortunately, you can clean carpets with common household items like baking soda, salt, vinegar, and club soda, which means that not only is it natural, it is also frugal.

My carpet cleaning methods are similar to Michelle of Simplify, Live, Love. She shares her tips for cleaning the carpets naturally using common household items. She explains how to make a natural and frugal carpet freshener and shares green tips for removing stains, including red wine.

You can find more Naturally Frugal Tips here.

Do you have a Naturally Frugal Tip you would like to share? Send me an email with a link to your post (or the details if you are not a blogger) to aleasleftovers@gmail.com.

Welcome to another Hearth and Soul Hop, the food carnival for and about food that not only nourishes our bodies, but our souls!

This week, I am featuring Brunch recipes that I discovered from visiting last week’s contributors to the Hearth and Soul Hop.

Brunch Recipes:

Candied Lemon Thyme Bread

French Toast Pudding

Strawberry Muffins

Egg Recipes for Brunch:

Spring Frittata

Spinach and Vegetable Omelette

Egg and Bacon Salad Sandwich

Coffee Recipes:

Iced Coffee Nog

Chocolate Espresso Smoothie

~ Please link a post that closely fits into the mission. If you are new, read the Hearth and Soul Hop mission statement which includes the rules for linking up. As always, if you have any questions please email me at aleasleftovers(at)gmail(dot)com.

~Please include a link back to one/any of the host sites (through worded link or badge). The Hearth and Soul Hosts include:

April of The 21st Century Housewife
Judy of Savoring Today
Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen
and me, Alea of Premeditated Leftovers

-Linky will stay open from 1:00 am Tuesday until 11:59 pm Thursday (Eastern time).

My garden is doing extremely well, maybe a little too well. I have declared a salad week, so we can make a dent in all of the greens. Depending on the weather and time available I will either Batch Grill or Batch Broil Chicken on Monday and then combine the chicken with ingredients from the garden to make a salad with different flavors each night. I will pick up a few produce items to use in our salads, like mangoes and limes which are currently on sale, but most of the ingredients for this week’s menu are either on hand or still in the garden.

Monday – Taco Salad

Tuesday – Asian Chicken Salad

Wednesday – Chicken and Radish Salad with Radish Leaf Soup

Thursday – Apple Walnut Salad

Friday – Honey Mustard Salmon Salad

Saturday – Chicken and Mango Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing

Sunday – Build Your Own Salad Buffet

Menu Planning Resources:

How I create menu plans, which includes mention of various methods I have used in the past.

How I use ZipList to save recipes, make meal plans, and create shopping lists.

Printable menu plans, a shopping list, and other useful printables.

Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.com

What are your favorite salad recipes?