We have had a very cold and very snowy month… we are wearing sweaters and layers to keep warm at home.
We found a bag of steamed broccoli and steamed red potatoes stuck inside our screen door one night when we came home from one of many concerts. My next door neighbor told me the next day when we saw each other that the food was from her, just as I thought. She sometimes brings home extra food from work parties and gives it to us since it is too much for just her. For lunch on Saturday I made a huge pot of potato broccoli soup and brought her a piping hot jar full of it along with some homemade French bread topped with apple butter and some pieces of holiday fudge, as well. She seemed very happy and admitted to secretly wishing for more of my soup she remembered me bringing her when she wasn’t feeling well some time ago. I was pretty sure this was NOT the same soup but it was delicious and used both ingredients she had given me and the rest was on hand in my pantry.
And by the word “pantry” which I use often, I am really referring to what I have on my shelves and in my food storage located in the basement rather than a traditional room off the kitchen. I live in a very small 5 room home with 7 people. I have an eat-in kitchen which is something like 8x15 in total with very little cupboard space. The shelving we built with lumber and hardware a number of years ago saves us in so many ways. It allows us to safely store “enough” for a large family who rarely dines out in a wet basement using the precious vertical space we have. I have grown very accustomed to running downstairs multiple times a day to what is really, at this point, an extension of my kitchen. My other reason for using the word “pantry” is that most people don’t completely understand the term “food storage” and when they do hear that term I get a lot of questions and usually they end up thinking we must be some sort of survivalist type family. Food storage, itself, is a different topic and I’ll probably cover more on that next month.
After a looooong battle with the dishwasher, extended warranty and the repair company the store sends out to fix broken appliances, the store decided to refund our 3 year old dishwasher purchase price to us in FULL and alleviate themselves of further repair work. They also offered to have installation of a new dishwasher paid for as well, though that won’t be necessary since ours is a portable dishwasher. The check arrived in the mail a week later.
Discovering last minute that my 11 year old was in need of a “festive” shirt for his holiday concert I went out and bought a beautiful red and black plaid button down shirt and a white sweater vest with a red insignia on the upper left front of it. Both look brand new, are brand name and I paid $4.50 for each item. While it’s not garage sale priced, it is a fraction of the original price and it was convenient too. After a quick wash, dry and press Tristan looked very handsome walking out the door that night in his black pants and black shoes. A Santa hat on his head matched quite well and he did indeed look quite festive for the occasion. While I was there I picked up a pair of pajamas, a sweater and another button down shirt with matching sweater vest from The Children’s Place that I paired together. I only paid a few dollars and this boy is sprouting so quickly that he really has had very little to wear since the temperature dropped. I figured I would not make him wait for Christmas buying this way and he really does need a few things NOW. To be honest, I’ve never seen the boy so happy to receive clothing.
I made a number of gifts to give away. I will do a post on these. Some were kitchen made gifts and some were from my craft area. All were thoughtful and took time and the reaction to the gift I did see get opened was a positive one. I’d planned on more homemade gifts to go around but time got the better of me. I have loads of ideas but I need to plan earlier and act on those plans early enough so those are my goals for next year.
My children took their own hard earned money, decided on a budget individually and they purchased or made gifts for family members. My youngest had just $6 and he got thoughtful gifts for everyone when he was taken shopping with his Dad. In fact I thought everyone was quite thoughtful with their gift giving.
Gift giving within our family was different this year as well. I made the suggestion to my husband to use the old adage “Something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read”… and a surprise from Santa Claus. This year my husband thought it was a good idea. It forced some creativity and more thought put into the gifts we got each other than in previous years. Another plus; I thought it made gift giving easier because it seemed more organized. I also stuck fairly close to my original budget but with a Santa gift I ended up going over by just a bit on each person. We ended up finding some “unexpected” money to cover it though, so it worked out well.
I am currently trying to decide if I can successfully handle putting together a “Homemade Christmas” for next year. It is something I have thought about for several years but my schedule combined with having little ones at home has made that difficult to actually do. And I have received some resistance from my kids and husband suggesting this in the past. So I am thinking, thinking, thinking… is it feasible? My husband has some reservations about it so we may compromise and have Santa gifts that are not homemade. I already know that our budget will still be tight next Christmas so there is the added advantage of keeping costs down even WITH the compromise. Like I said, I have loads of ideas and need to harness the enthusiasm.
Finally, for the first year ever since having children we did NOT have professional portraits done of the kids or family. It was a money saving choice… a choice we made. Instead we had taken some pictures through the year that we thought could be “played with” and printed as 8x10’s with 5x7’s given to our parents. We finally sat down, picked out pictures and cropped them and sent them in for printing. We found a family package deal that gave us even more pictures in the package for less money than purchasing them without the package. This worked out perfectly because my brothers and sisters and I had decided that instead of choosing names for a Christmas gift exchange this year, which not all of us were participating in, it would be more meaningful to exchange pictures between the families and help us feel closer which is the real reason for gift giving within the family. The only cost is the print and the postage and some families are putting together family tree walls. We all live pretty far apart and we don’t get to see each other often. This helps the kids know who their cousins are. We can mount the pics however we want to and then replace with an updated one whenever they come along. I thought that was a pretty neat idea. For us, our 8X10 prints take the place of 10x13 prints. We ended up not being able to find 10X13 mats that would fit in our frames so we used a gift card and bought some nice 8x10 frames at 50% off after Christmas at the craft store.
That was my shorter than usual list for living providently this month.
Monday, December 30, 2013
Perfect Beans
Finally, I am done with my research on beans having started this over a month ago! Thanksgiving and Christmas got the better of me over the past few weeks. So here it is.
Beans! High in fiber, low in fat. Canned beans are one thing but dried beans seem quite another. They are easy to store and good protein to include in a home food storage but then what? What can I do with them? How do I cook with them? Dried beans are cheaper to buy than their canned counterpart making them affordable for me to pick up a bag here and there occasionally which I did to ensure I was following prophetic council. Plus they keep longer, good for long term food storage which I viewed as a "just in case" type of thing. Keeping longer gave me comfort because I didn't have to fix them NOW and I figured if there was nothing else to eat, I guessed I could stomach eating some beans... if I had to in order to stay alive. I could never live with myself if I had to look my children in the eye and tell them I had nothing for them to eat when I could have... and should have done something about it. But one day I looked at my food storage and realized I had so many barrels of beans I was scared. I was scared of beans!!! How can I rotate through a food storage that I am scared of and have no idea how to use? How could I justify purchasing more of something I had no intention of eating soon when our grocery budget was tighter than ever and still tightening more? Eating beans wasn't anything new... it was the fact that these beans were dry beans. My mom had used dry beans in her meals which I may or may not have liked but I had started at ground zero in the cooking department and was learning my way through the kitchen. My time had come to conquer the DRY BEANS! Now I use them not just in soup recipes but I use them in many mexican recipes replacing the beef with them simply for the economy and health of them. I even make bean burgers that give the old frozen vegi-burger in the freezer case of the local grocery a run for its money. I've come a long way from ground zero.
I have heard many rumors about beans through the years and wondered about them. In spite of having delved in to use beans in our meals for several years figuring out certain tricks along the way I still had some of the same questions. How could I help answer other people's questions they were asking me about cooking with beans such as how can you prevent them from giving you gastrointestinal distress? If I salt them won't they be tough? But if I don't salt them will they have any flavor? What about the time involved in cooking with beans? These are some valid questions with some good news answers. I recently read an article in the December/January 2014 issue of Cooks Country that cleared up any questions I still had about beans. Putting this new information to the test combined with years of personal experience I am confident in coming up with a creamy, flavorful bean every time now.
Time vs. Money or the old adage "time IS money, money is time".
So quickly you should know that while beans are a cheap source of protein, dried beans are ridiculously cheap by comparison. That said, the location you purchase from and the packaging size can further influence the price you pay for those beans. And it doesn't hurt to keep a few CANS of beans on the shelf, either, for those days when even the best laid plans fall short. The price of a couple cans of beans on my shelf to provide a quick meal for 7 is NOTHING compared to the $35 + price tag on an unplanned trip through the McDonald's drive through.
Time, of course, is a resource just like money. The good news with using dried beans is that it doesn't have to take a lot of time. I am referring to "hands on" time. You DO need to plan ahead to use beans but the time it takes to prepare the beans is mostly hands off plus the only equipment needed is a basic Dutch Oven (fancy name for pot with lid). And I'm all for any simplicity I can get in my little kitchen.
Here are some simple Core Techniques in utilizing dried beans in your diet.
1.) SOAK or BRINE BEANS: While soaking beans overnight may be standard procedure that everyone knows about there is a LOT of confusion about brining them. Adding salt to your soaking beans not only seasons the beans but actually softens their skins as the sodium ions in the salt replace calcium and magnesium ions as the beans sit in the salty solution. Sodium ions weaken pectin which is the glue that holds the cells together and gives the cell walls of the bean strength. With the break down of the cell wall more water can then penetrate the bean making for a softer bean. Note that lentils do not need soaking.
Bottom line; Soak beans for 8-24 hours in brine solution of 3 Tbsp. salt and 4 quarts of water for every pound of most beans in most recipes. Use immediately. *** Unused brined beans may be rinsed and kept refrigerated for up to four days or may be frozen for several weeks. Think of this as "fast food" for upcoming meals. FAQ: What if I don't have time to soak the beans overnight? If you don't have any left over brined beans in the fridge or freezer then use a quick soak by bringing the beans, salt and water to a boil. Then turn off the heat and cover with lid letting them sit for one hour. Drain and rinse your beans after the one hour mark and proceed with your recipe. Still not fast enough? Simmer beans in 3 quarts of water with one Tbsp. baking soda for 20 minutes before draining, rinsing and proceeding with recipe. Remember though, an overnight brine will always produce the creamiest beans.
2.) SORT/RINSE BEANS: Bags of dried beans sometimes contain small stones and other debris called ditritus so pick through your beans as you rinse them in a colander with cold water. Really get in there with your hand and mix them around as you run them under the water. If you are really being overly thoughtful (or nervous) you can even spread the beans out on a towel or white plate to make sure that anything that should not be in the beans is spotted and discarded. I usually find that what doesn't belong is obvious.
Bottom line; Rinse those beans keeping eyes open for detritus. Eliminate the jokes and intestinal discomfort. Rinsing beans after soaking and cooking helps remove some of the broken down chains of carbohydrates which can otherwise cause gas and other digestive troubles.
3.) BEWARE of ACID: Contrary to popular myth, salting beans has NOTHING to do with tough beans but acidity does affect the bean. If the cooking liquid the beans are in is too acidic then beans will not soften no matter how many hours they spend bubbling on the stove top. A low pH (higher acid) actually has the opposite effect of brining and will strengthen the pectin in beans, making them tougher; a very low pH actually prevents them from cooking. It took a LOT of acid to cause a problem during testing. A primary acidic food we tend to cook with beans is... TOMATOES! In my own kitchen I have produced very creamy beans when brined with salt and rather tough ones when I added tomatoes too early to my non-brined beans that were boiling. Be safe! Add tomatoes to your recipe only when beans are nearly tender. If beans remain unsoftened despite all these measures then your beans were just too old (more than 10 years) or your water is too hard.
Store beans in a cool, dry place. I like to keep my dried beans as long term storage in plastic buckets with gamma seal lids that can be purchased at places like Home Depot but can be purchased in bulk (least expensively per lid) online. When I run low on beans upstairs in my kitchen I simply refill my canning jar from the buckets and they look somewhat chic sitting on my exposed shelves in the kitchen. Canning jars, also frequently called Mason jars, are the most economical way to store goods in glass. Highly functional, yet very attractive to display, they will keep moisture, bugs, and rodents from ruining your goods. LOVE canning jars!
My favorite beans to store are Great Northern, Black, Kidney and Pinto Beans. Pinto Beans can be purchased in bulk at Sam's Club.
There are hundreds of ways to take advantage of using dried beans in your diet. Now you are prepared for success the next time your recipe calls for beans.
Beans! High in fiber, low in fat. Canned beans are one thing but dried beans seem quite another. They are easy to store and good protein to include in a home food storage but then what? What can I do with them? How do I cook with them? Dried beans are cheaper to buy than their canned counterpart making them affordable for me to pick up a bag here and there occasionally which I did to ensure I was following prophetic council. Plus they keep longer, good for long term food storage which I viewed as a "just in case" type of thing. Keeping longer gave me comfort because I didn't have to fix them NOW and I figured if there was nothing else to eat, I guessed I could stomach eating some beans... if I had to in order to stay alive. I could never live with myself if I had to look my children in the eye and tell them I had nothing for them to eat when I could have... and should have done something about it. But one day I looked at my food storage and realized I had so many barrels of beans I was scared. I was scared of beans!!! How can I rotate through a food storage that I am scared of and have no idea how to use? How could I justify purchasing more of something I had no intention of eating soon when our grocery budget was tighter than ever and still tightening more? Eating beans wasn't anything new... it was the fact that these beans were dry beans. My mom had used dry beans in her meals which I may or may not have liked but I had started at ground zero in the cooking department and was learning my way through the kitchen. My time had come to conquer the DRY BEANS! Now I use them not just in soup recipes but I use them in many mexican recipes replacing the beef with them simply for the economy and health of them. I even make bean burgers that give the old frozen vegi-burger in the freezer case of the local grocery a run for its money. I've come a long way from ground zero.
I have heard many rumors about beans through the years and wondered about them. In spite of having delved in to use beans in our meals for several years figuring out certain tricks along the way I still had some of the same questions. How could I help answer other people's questions they were asking me about cooking with beans such as how can you prevent them from giving you gastrointestinal distress? If I salt them won't they be tough? But if I don't salt them will they have any flavor? What about the time involved in cooking with beans? These are some valid questions with some good news answers. I recently read an article in the December/January 2014 issue of Cooks Country that cleared up any questions I still had about beans. Putting this new information to the test combined with years of personal experience I am confident in coming up with a creamy, flavorful bean every time now.
Time vs. Money or the old adage "time IS money, money is time".
So quickly you should know that while beans are a cheap source of protein, dried beans are ridiculously cheap by comparison. That said, the location you purchase from and the packaging size can further influence the price you pay for those beans. And it doesn't hurt to keep a few CANS of beans on the shelf, either, for those days when even the best laid plans fall short. The price of a couple cans of beans on my shelf to provide a quick meal for 7 is NOTHING compared to the $35 + price tag on an unplanned trip through the McDonald's drive through.
Time, of course, is a resource just like money. The good news with using dried beans is that it doesn't have to take a lot of time. I am referring to "hands on" time. You DO need to plan ahead to use beans but the time it takes to prepare the beans is mostly hands off plus the only equipment needed is a basic Dutch Oven (fancy name for pot with lid). And I'm all for any simplicity I can get in my little kitchen.
Here are some simple Core Techniques in utilizing dried beans in your diet.
1.) SOAK or BRINE BEANS: While soaking beans overnight may be standard procedure that everyone knows about there is a LOT of confusion about brining them. Adding salt to your soaking beans not only seasons the beans but actually softens their skins as the sodium ions in the salt replace calcium and magnesium ions as the beans sit in the salty solution. Sodium ions weaken pectin which is the glue that holds the cells together and gives the cell walls of the bean strength. With the break down of the cell wall more water can then penetrate the bean making for a softer bean. Note that lentils do not need soaking.
Bottom line; Soak beans for 8-24 hours in brine solution of 3 Tbsp. salt and 4 quarts of water for every pound of most beans in most recipes. Use immediately. *** Unused brined beans may be rinsed and kept refrigerated for up to four days or may be frozen for several weeks. Think of this as "fast food" for upcoming meals. FAQ: What if I don't have time to soak the beans overnight? If you don't have any left over brined beans in the fridge or freezer then use a quick soak by bringing the beans, salt and water to a boil. Then turn off the heat and cover with lid letting them sit for one hour. Drain and rinse your beans after the one hour mark and proceed with your recipe. Still not fast enough? Simmer beans in 3 quarts of water with one Tbsp. baking soda for 20 minutes before draining, rinsing and proceeding with recipe. Remember though, an overnight brine will always produce the creamiest beans.
2.) SORT/RINSE BEANS: Bags of dried beans sometimes contain small stones and other debris called ditritus so pick through your beans as you rinse them in a colander with cold water. Really get in there with your hand and mix them around as you run them under the water. If you are really being overly thoughtful (or nervous) you can even spread the beans out on a towel or white plate to make sure that anything that should not be in the beans is spotted and discarded. I usually find that what doesn't belong is obvious.
Bottom line; Rinse those beans keeping eyes open for detritus. Eliminate the jokes and intestinal discomfort. Rinsing beans after soaking and cooking helps remove some of the broken down chains of carbohydrates which can otherwise cause gas and other digestive troubles.
3.) BEWARE of ACID: Contrary to popular myth, salting beans has NOTHING to do with tough beans but acidity does affect the bean. If the cooking liquid the beans are in is too acidic then beans will not soften no matter how many hours they spend bubbling on the stove top. A low pH (higher acid) actually has the opposite effect of brining and will strengthen the pectin in beans, making them tougher; a very low pH actually prevents them from cooking. It took a LOT of acid to cause a problem during testing. A primary acidic food we tend to cook with beans is... TOMATOES! In my own kitchen I have produced very creamy beans when brined with salt and rather tough ones when I added tomatoes too early to my non-brined beans that were boiling. Be safe! Add tomatoes to your recipe only when beans are nearly tender. If beans remain unsoftened despite all these measures then your beans were just too old (more than 10 years) or your water is too hard.
Store beans in a cool, dry place. I like to keep my dried beans as long term storage in plastic buckets with gamma seal lids that can be purchased at places like Home Depot but can be purchased in bulk (least expensively per lid) online. When I run low on beans upstairs in my kitchen I simply refill my canning jar from the buckets and they look somewhat chic sitting on my exposed shelves in the kitchen. Canning jars, also frequently called Mason jars, are the most economical way to store goods in glass. Highly functional, yet very attractive to display, they will keep moisture, bugs, and rodents from ruining your goods. LOVE canning jars!
My favorite beans to store are Great Northern, Black, Kidney and Pinto Beans. Pinto Beans can be purchased in bulk at Sam's Club.
There are hundreds of ways to take advantage of using dried beans in your diet. Now you are prepared for success the next time your recipe calls for beans.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
November's Provident Living
This was my list for November. When I make this list of things I do each month I feel like all those little things that I take time for or have learned to take care of in a self sufficient manner add up and make a difference in our budget and in our quality of life. I love learning new ways to do useful things. As I look at my lists from each month I realize how much I have to be grateful for, I see little miracles in my life and I feel more gratitude in my heart for the plain and simple gifts otherwise so easily taken for granted.
I mended a winter coat that my oldest child had worn. The padding and lining were both ripped and after my repairs and a good cleaning it looks as good as new. Already for the next child to wear and it has started getting cold... especially as she leaves the house at 5:30 a.m.
I made a triple batch of laundry detergent and a double batch of dishwasher detergent.
I took my van back to where we'd gotten the new transmission put in because I was hearing a knocking in my steering column whenever I turned. They discovered a loose bolt they had missed which they tightened and everything is fine. For my trouble they gave me a card for a free lube and oil change the next time we need one which is a $50 value. They also gave me an opportunity to write an online review for them so I did. I brought in a copy the next time we were going past their service department and they mailed me a $10 gift card to my favorite store, Target!
Homemade granola bars were quite the hit. Everyone loved to get one on those "early days" we have twice a week when everyone has to run out the door. I liked them because they were easy to cut and held together well.
French style vegetarian soup was an easy, warming and delicious soup that was made out of next to nothing and nearly filled my "cauldron". It used all pantry ingredients and even called for some old bread so I pulled the heels out of the fridge. I gave it little thought other than making sure my beans were soaking the night before.
Lemon Bundt Cake with lemon glaze, also made completely from pantry ingredients, included a homemade all purpose cake mix but no actual lemons. It was perfectly lemony and delicious and very inexpensive to make.
Doing crafts with my pre-schooler was a lot of fun using pumpkin seeds from our jack-o-lantern to outline our pumpkin craft and then paint orange. This craft taught concepts in size as well as patterns and worked on fine motor skills with scissors, glue and paint. We also used the seeds to glue and trace his name.
We began working on homemade Christmas presents for cousins and siblings which utilize our huge crayon bucket collection. All those broken crayons will find renewed life by making crayon melts.
Free entertainment... my husband got four complimentary tickets to the Musical "Peter Pan" that he has been working for months on. We got a fifth complimentary ticket for school staff and since a couple of my children are in the production it was one more ticket than I needed. So after some thinking I invited a friend of my girls that I thought would really enjoy and appreciate seeing this performance and who would also be good sitting with my other three children.
Speaking of the annual musical, it is like a second job for a quarter of the year for my husband and earns us some cash which will be paid in four installments between now and June. The person playing Tinker Bell in the live orchestra fell through as did the person playing harp and so my husband was hired to play in the pit for performances as well. He will earn some unexpected money for rehearsal time outside of his regular hours as well as get paid per performance as a hired professional. This will allow us to restock some of our emptying pantry shelves, replenish our emergency fund and give us some Christmas money to work with.
Homemade Italian dressing is a favorite on spinach and homegrown tomatoes which are still ripening on my windowsill. I usually have the dry ingredients in pint jars on the shelf ready to be mixed with their wet ingredients for a quick fix on busy nights or so my older children can easily prepare the salad dressing themselves. Home canned peaches and applesauce have begun to supplement the fruit in our diet.
I made a White Bean Alfredo which will fool anyone into thinking they are eating chicken. It is so good and filling. I think the secret is in the garlic! The recipe utilizes white beans and powdered milk in my food storage. I often cook with powdered milk because while we prefer not to have to drink it I do not notice a difference at all when I cook with it. Using it in this way enables me to rotate milk in my long term storage and reduce my cost of cooking this dish since bulk powdered milk is probably the least expensive way to buy milk.
Remember those little spookies we picked at the pumpkin patch last month? I was able to freeze 14 cups of puree from them. After gracing our front porch for most of the harvest season we brought them in when the outdoor temperature began reaching the freezing point at night and we roasted them. I measured the puree into clean reuseable lunch meat containers which work just like "gladware". A few years ago there was a pumpkin shortage in this region and not a can of pumpkin was to be found in any store around here for months and months. I was grateful to have a few frozen containers of puree but have since made sure to freeze as much pumpkin as I can. I use pumpkin for muffins, pancakes, soup and of course, pie!
Some of my shopping bargains this month included Halloween napkins for .30 a package. At home I always use cloth napkins but I do use paper napkins in lunch boxes. I got four cookie cutters in various Halloween shapes on the clearance table as well as a Halloween door hanging decoration for just $1.50 instead of its usual $5. It's very cute with a Halloween cat and everyone who knows me knows I won't let anything with a cat go to waste!!! On a more practical note I avoided the after sales on Halloween candy but stocked up on canned goods. Many vegetables were just .49 per can when you bought them in multiples of 10. I was able to add 78 cans of food to my pantry shelf to help replenish my dwindling supply. Some cans will be given at food drives to help feed others this holiday season also. Baking supplies go on sale this month so this is the time to stock up on those items. Sugar went on sale for $1.19 for 4 pounds with a limit of two so my husband and I each went through the line and then we went back the next day on the way home from somewhere. Butter was $1.59 per pound. Spices, baker's chocolate, canned pumpkin, soups and canned milks were on sale too as well as pasta. I also purchased 10 pounds of bacon using a rain check. They were on sale but if purchased in multiples of 5 (up to 10) then they were just 1.99 with the rain check. Since bacon rarely goes on sale for the price I am willing to pay I did purchase all 10 allowed. I found large bags of Snicker's minis, normally $10.00 for $1.10. I bought two bags and may use them for Christmas or perhaps to pass out to the children in my class at church. Dollar deals included cream cheese and Cool Whip.
TURKEY!!! Of course this is the month to buy turkey. The store with the best sale on turkey around here had a purchase limit of one so my husband and I each went through the line separately. Large turkeys over 16 pounds received $17 off with a $20 purchase. I advised my husband to look for a smaller turkey in that range because the deal would give us more money off per pound. Our turkeys ended up costing about .50 cents per pound.
I made a triple batch of laundry detergent and a double batch of dishwasher detergent.
I took my van back to where we'd gotten the new transmission put in because I was hearing a knocking in my steering column whenever I turned. They discovered a loose bolt they had missed which they tightened and everything is fine. For my trouble they gave me a card for a free lube and oil change the next time we need one which is a $50 value. They also gave me an opportunity to write an online review for them so I did. I brought in a copy the next time we were going past their service department and they mailed me a $10 gift card to my favorite store, Target!
Homemade granola bars were quite the hit. Everyone loved to get one on those "early days" we have twice a week when everyone has to run out the door. I liked them because they were easy to cut and held together well.
French style vegetarian soup was an easy, warming and delicious soup that was made out of next to nothing and nearly filled my "cauldron". It used all pantry ingredients and even called for some old bread so I pulled the heels out of the fridge. I gave it little thought other than making sure my beans were soaking the night before.
Lemon Bundt Cake with lemon glaze, also made completely from pantry ingredients, included a homemade all purpose cake mix but no actual lemons. It was perfectly lemony and delicious and very inexpensive to make.
Doing crafts with my pre-schooler was a lot of fun using pumpkin seeds from our jack-o-lantern to outline our pumpkin craft and then paint orange. This craft taught concepts in size as well as patterns and worked on fine motor skills with scissors, glue and paint. We also used the seeds to glue and trace his name.
We began working on homemade Christmas presents for cousins and siblings which utilize our huge crayon bucket collection. All those broken crayons will find renewed life by making crayon melts.
Free entertainment... my husband got four complimentary tickets to the Musical "Peter Pan" that he has been working for months on. We got a fifth complimentary ticket for school staff and since a couple of my children are in the production it was one more ticket than I needed. So after some thinking I invited a friend of my girls that I thought would really enjoy and appreciate seeing this performance and who would also be good sitting with my other three children.
Speaking of the annual musical, it is like a second job for a quarter of the year for my husband and earns us some cash which will be paid in four installments between now and June. The person playing Tinker Bell in the live orchestra fell through as did the person playing harp and so my husband was hired to play in the pit for performances as well. He will earn some unexpected money for rehearsal time outside of his regular hours as well as get paid per performance as a hired professional. This will allow us to restock some of our emptying pantry shelves, replenish our emergency fund and give us some Christmas money to work with.
Homemade Italian dressing is a favorite on spinach and homegrown tomatoes which are still ripening on my windowsill. I usually have the dry ingredients in pint jars on the shelf ready to be mixed with their wet ingredients for a quick fix on busy nights or so my older children can easily prepare the salad dressing themselves. Home canned peaches and applesauce have begun to supplement the fruit in our diet.
I made a White Bean Alfredo which will fool anyone into thinking they are eating chicken. It is so good and filling. I think the secret is in the garlic! The recipe utilizes white beans and powdered milk in my food storage. I often cook with powdered milk because while we prefer not to have to drink it I do not notice a difference at all when I cook with it. Using it in this way enables me to rotate milk in my long term storage and reduce my cost of cooking this dish since bulk powdered milk is probably the least expensive way to buy milk.
The reason I include the Pumpkin Whoopie Pies here is because I used fresh pumpkin puree to make these... the cookie part was so soft and they were a wonderful autumn treat. They are a real contender with the traditional chocolate and cream version that I loved growing up. The other ingredients in this treat were purchased in bulk. The cream cheese is something I stock up on when I can buy it at .90 per pound. Unopened, cream cheese lasts for months in the fridge. Check the expiration date and stock up on as much as you have room for and think you'll use in that time.
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| Pumpkin Whoopie Pies |
TURKEY!!! Of course this is the month to buy turkey. The store with the best sale on turkey around here had a purchase limit of one so my husband and I each went through the line separately. Large turkeys over 16 pounds received $17 off with a $20 purchase. I advised my husband to look for a smaller turkey in that range because the deal would give us more money off per pound. Our turkeys ended up costing about .50 cents per pound.
I had a little fun experimenting with my camera here. The kids got super excited about making a volcano one Saturday morning when it was time to make bathroom cleaner. Bathroom cleaner is super easy to make with some basic items that you may already have in your home. It is super fun and quite entertaining to make. Just be sure to use a big enough bowl to mix it up in. Then it will settle and fit into a bottle for use. It cleans quite nicely and smells really good.
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| Marinated Garden Tomatoes for Pasta
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The end of my garden tomatoes had ripened on the window sill and this was a delicious way to use them. I chopped them up and marinated them for pasta sauce one evening after a very busy day. I was able to get some other household chores done while it marinated and the water boiled for pasta. I decided that this vegetarian dish may be my new favorite pasta. It is completely easy, made out of next to nothing and tastes just like this pasta I loved that Down East discontinued several years ago. Check out the recipe under "Tomatoes" on this blog.
We rented two DVDs from Red Box for free with two different coupon codes they mailed to us... a nice at home date night. We also borrowed the movie The Lorax from the library for one Friday night which the whole family watched.
We filled out an on-line survey to get 50 points added to our Shoppers Club card which is half the points needed to get a discount on their gas pump.
My husband and I went out for dinner at a favorite little local restaurant for our date night out. We were leaving at closing time on Friday night and they are closed for weekends. So they came and asked us if we'd like to have some free bagels. Of course we were delighted. Then they said they were just going to throw out the unsold bags and we could take as many as we wanted to so we picked out ten half-dozen bags leaving the workers some to take if they wanted and thanked them. Our children were delighted on Saturday morning and bagel sandwiches went out in lunch boxes on Monday. We still have plenty more stored in the freezer for the coming weeks.
I stopped at the craft store to help my 11 year old pick up some crafting supplies for a science project in his enrichment class. We found Crayola modeling clay being sold at a discount and it would give him more control over the project than Styrofoam balls. It would take away the need for purchasing a paint color we were out of as well. I also had a list of supplies to purchase for making some Christmas gifts and found a 50% off sale on my exact list items. This enabled me to make gifts for two children at the price of just $5. I already had leftover supplies at home for the rest of the project from several years ago.
November was a busy one.
My husband and I went out for dinner at a favorite little local restaurant for our date night out. We were leaving at closing time on Friday night and they are closed for weekends. So they came and asked us if we'd like to have some free bagels. Of course we were delighted. Then they said they were just going to throw out the unsold bags and we could take as many as we wanted to so we picked out ten half-dozen bags leaving the workers some to take if they wanted and thanked them. Our children were delighted on Saturday morning and bagel sandwiches went out in lunch boxes on Monday. We still have plenty more stored in the freezer for the coming weeks.
I stopped at the craft store to help my 11 year old pick up some crafting supplies for a science project in his enrichment class. We found Crayola modeling clay being sold at a discount and it would give him more control over the project than Styrofoam balls. It would take away the need for purchasing a paint color we were out of as well. I also had a list of supplies to purchase for making some Christmas gifts and found a 50% off sale on my exact list items. This enabled me to make gifts for two children at the price of just $5. I already had leftover supplies at home for the rest of the project from several years ago.
November was a busy one.
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