Sometimes Cheap isn't worth it part 2

I have found several blogs that seem to be simply about adding coupons, catalinas and buy one get deals to get free product, great. Except who has room to store the 48 boxes of capri sun you got for a dollar when you bought 40 cans of soup? And how long is too long to store food? How far out in advance do you plan for? A few months back I realized I was spending a helluva lot more on food/supplies than we needed and I needed to cut back. I have and in those first few weeks I was a rabid couponer and I stocked up on toiletries and non perishables pretty quick. I stock a pretty decent pantry already so I'm good there. Now what? These blogs I look at buy those non perishables items in massive amounts, weekly. Now maybe they are sharing with family or maybe they are hoarding but how can they afford so much week after week? Are they really saving money? What I can't afford or won't afford is spending untold hours in my truck, burning gas and dragging my kids from store to store to get 'free' stuff. I make a list, plan my meals, shop once and eat for a week. Also what about real foods?
What real food can you get on coupons anyway? Guiltless Glutton had a great post on that the other day and mostly I agree with what she had to say, check it out. Most coupons are placed to get you to buy products right? The most expensive products are highly processed 'food' that come in little packs and those are the ones manufacturers are pushing. When was the last time you saw a coupon for plain brown rice? Yup, thought so, long time or maybe never. Let's just pick on rice-a-roni shall we? I see lots of coupons for it. You got your white rice and broken spaghetti noodles the box costs what? A buck? Nope more like a 1.25 ish on Amazon. Anyway you got broken noodles and white (polished nutritionless but I digress) rice and WOW 54 % of your daily salt needs. WOOT! And after rice, wheat flour and salt come all these neato 'foods?' "Partially Hydrogenated Palm Oil(check out this article)**, Sugar, Autolysed Yeast Extract*, Hydrolysed Soy Protein (MSG), Onions*, Corn Syrup*, Dextrose, Monosodium Glutamate(twice now cause one dose of nueurotoxin just aint enough), Natural Flavors, Hydrolyzed Corn Gluten (wow third times a charm hunh?), Chicken Broth*, Chicken Fat, Turmeric, Sodium Caseinate, Parsley*, Hydrolysed Wheat Gluten (4 times? now this is jsut getting silly), Garlic*, Niacin, Disodium Guanylate (seaweed extract), Disodiuminosinate, Ferric Orthophosphate, Ferrous Sulfate, Turmeric Extract, Thiamin Mononitrate, Soy Lecithin, Folic Acid, Riboflavin. *Dried. **Adds A Dietarily Insignificant Amount of Trans Fat. Contains Wheat, Soy and Milk Ingredients."
Okey Dokey then, anybody else scared? MSG is a neurotoxin basically it makes you think food tastes good. It would make dog poop taste good because it fools your taste buds. When food tastes good we eat more, the more we eat, the fatter we get, the more we buy the more money they make and when we slow down...bring on the coupons we'll wrangle 'em in cheaply! Ok again I digress but MSG just really pisses me off. Seriously.
How do you save money on food? Back to rice-a-roni, the box costs 1.25 and has 2 servings for my family I would need 3-4 boxes (teenage boy) 5 bucks worth. You can buy 2 pounds of rice for 2 bucks or quick cook brown rice, add some spaghetti a few spices and voila! Homemade in minutes, with REAL food. I googled homemade rice-a-roni and found a TON of recipes. I have included two I like. You know, it takes time to make food but I think with simple recipes that are easy to follow and easy to tweak to a compliment a certain main dish everyone can cook with whole real foods and leave the highly processed and dangerous foods on the shelf.

Side Dish Rice

1 cup quick cooking brown rice, uncooked
1 cup broken thin or regular spaghetti
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
3 cups broth, beef or chicken homemade or canned MSG free if possible-do what you can!
1-1/4 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper


melt butter in a skillet over medium heat, add uncooked rice and pasta pieces and stir about 5 minutes until pasta is lightly browned
add remaining ingredients heat to boiling, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 12 minutes remove from heat, fluff with a fork, cover and let steam an additional 5-10 minutes



Spanish Rice

1 cup quick cooking brown rice, uncooked
1 cup broken spaghetti
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
2 1/2 cups broth, beef or chicken homemade or canned MSG free if possible-do what you can!
1 can diced tomatoes, stewed tomatoes or rotel your choice
2 tablespoons taco seasoning-or to taste
freshly ground black pepper

melt butter in a skillet over medium heat, add uncooked rice and pasta pieces and stir about 5 minutes until pasta is lightly browned
add remaining ingredients heat to boiling, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 12 minutes remove from heat, fluff with a fork, cover and let steam an additional 5-10 minutes

With the Spanish rice I like to brown pork chops in the pan first, remove to a platter, prepare the rice, when the rice is boiling I pop the pork chops on top cook until the rice is done. So easy and so homemade! I also included a great recipe for taco seasoning that is lower in salt, better tasting and cheaper than store bought.

Taco Seasoning
2 Tablespoons chili powder
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons sea slat
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon oregano-Mexican if you find it!

Mix it up, store in an air tight container and use as much or little as you want

Finally have you met Sweetie Pie yet? She is having a great giveaway for her 100th post, go see her for a chance to WIN BIG!!(or not I want to win!) Well anyway she is a great blogger and very inspirational...she has lost half her body weight!

Buitoni Riserva Review

I am a foodbuzz featured publisher and also part of their taste makers program that reviews new products. 2 weeks ago I received a 9 ounce package of new Buitoni Riserva Agnolotti (ravioli type of pasta, sort of) to review. Now I like pasta but it came on the same day as our ducks, turkeys and geese so it was overshadowed by cuteness. I popped it in to the fridge for use when life was less crazy (HA!).
I finally made it. Wow! It cooks really quick and the flavor was out of this world unbelievably tasty. Now the package only came with 2 servings so I made it for lunch and we all, except my oldest who was in school, tried it. Everyone loved. The calories were rather high for me to eat a whole serving, er stop at one serving(?), so it was great to split it up.
The flavor of the Wild Mushroom Agnolotti had a lot going on with portobella and crimini mushrooms, roasted garlic and two cheeses so I knew I wanted to pair it with a very simple sauce. After cooking the pasta I removed it to a serving bowl. In the same pot I cooked it in I heated a tablespoon of olive oil (Newman' Own Organic) and when it was hot I tossed in a handful of fresh from my herb starts basil and let it fry quickly. Then I just popped the pasta in salted it, peppered it and tossed it gently together. Sublime. I used mine to top a salad and it was a pleasant lunch.

Margarita Cheesecake Daring Bakers Challenge

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. What a great time this challenge was. The idea was to take the original cheesecake recipe and give it any twist you want basically "get creative". I can do that. I knew right off the bat I would be baking a margarita cheesecake to replace this recipe, which I love but is full of chemical frankenfood whip. Here is the recipe we were given to play with.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

And here is the recipe I came up with.

Margarita Cheesecake-----oven 350 degrees

2 cups crushed pretzels
3/4 cup melted butter
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt

24 ounces of cream cheese at room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup milk
juice of 2 limes
1 teaspoon lime zest


mix together the crust ingredients and press into a 10 inch springform pan
at this point bring a large pot of water to boil on the stove preferably in something oven proof

meanwhile, combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth
add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg
add milk, lime juice, and zest until smooth and creamy

pour in to the crust in the springform pan and bang lightly on the counter to pop any air bubbles
place the boiling water in the oven and place the cheesecake on the rack above it
bake for 45-55 minutes until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center you don't want it to be completely firm at this stage
Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour this lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top
after one hour, remove cheesecake from oven let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill once fully chilled, it is ready to serve

The salty sweet crust-

1 fresh egg going in-time for some heat


wow no crack in the top-YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Serving it up

I loved this cheesecake. It was tart and smooth with a crunchy, salty and sweet crust. My boys didn't like it and my husband said "it's good, for a custard". Oh well can't win 'em all right? I will be making this again for me at least and with tequila next time.

ruled by 8

8 Things I’m Looking Forward To:
1) summer
2)my hair getting long
3)going to Disneyland
4)painless walking
5)getting in shape
6)feeling good about myself
7)sheets fresh off the line
8) SLEEP

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1)cleaned out the garage-yep it's packed
2)bought chicken wire
3)did not make dinner
4)went to out local electrical co-op annual meeting-food sucked!
5)taught my son how to parallel park-OMG!
6)built a chicken roost
7)freecycled a grill, crib and table saw
8)planted cosmos and cukes

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:
1)run
2)bike
3)wear a bikini-HA!
4)fly like in my dreams
5)walk to town
6)hold my tongue
7)SLEEP
8)dance

8 Shows I Watch- I netflix TV shows bear with me!:
All creatures great and small
Ballykissangel
Upstairs Downstairs
Babylon 5
Colonial House
Frontier House
1940's House


8 People I Tag:
Just Sweet Enough
Joie de Vivre
Mrs. Jelly Belly
Uncovering Food
In Michelle's Kitchen
Dinner at Christina's
My Tasty Treasure
Pretty Green Girl

Tofu-jitas

I recently had the absolute pleasure of meeting my husbands aunt, Andi, from California. What a treasure! I hosted a dinner at our house for the family but unfortunately my parents were at Spamalot so they missed the party, everyone else got to come though and we had a great time. I made a taco feast and a couple of cakes. Wahoo! We ate and visited and ate some more.

Andi is a vegetarian so I wanted to create a decent entree to honor her lifestyle choice, I hit up on a winner people! Tofu fajitas! Totally delicious and easy too! The meat eaters were enjoying them and they reheated well the next day! Did I not say winner??

Tofu-jitas
1 block of extra firm tofu
juice of 1/2 a lime
3 tablespoons olive oil-divided
1 teaspoon of Mexican oregano
dash of paprika for color
1/2 teaspoon of salt
sprinkle of pepper

1 onion cut in half and then in to strips
5 mini sweet bell peppers cut in strips red yellow and orange-substitute in regular bell peppers
warmed tortillas-make sure they are lard free if need be (don't worry Andi mine were)

cut the tofu in to bite sized pieces
add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the rest of the marinade ingredients to a zip top bag, seal and shake
add the tofu turn to coat and marinate for at least 2 hours
heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat
when the skillet is hot add the sliced vegetables saute for 2 minutes
add the tofu and as much of the marinade as you can squeeze in
saute another 2 minutes until the tofu is heated through and the vegetables are crisp tender
serve with warmed tortillas


I did promise a chocolate giveaway coming soon, that is still in the works. OK OK I need to quit eating the prize :) No I should have that soon maybe this weekend. I have a lot of posts to get up.

This year I am boycotting presents for Mother's Day. Say I love with a hug, not knick knacks she will need to dust or a big screen lcd tv. This is simply a day to say, I love you and now with this economy I don't think we need retailers shoving it down our throats that Mom needs a new lap top or a diamond ring. Please join me in taking back Mother's Day from the retailers and don't let them guilt you into a huge credit card payment.

Mother's Day; It's not for presents anymore

Things I never Thought I would say:

Don't lick the bottom of your shoe.

Quit eating the bok choy.

No, you can't hit him with a hammer.

Get the trike off the top rails of the wagon.

Stop picking all the carrots.

You can have more brussel sprouts as soon as you eat another bite off meat.

Spit out the rocks. NOW!!!


OK we have internet again! YES! But I am going out for dinner so I have no time to post, BOO!!
These things are coming up:
my review of Buitoni Pasta the Riserva line
My new recipe for vegetarian fajitas
and a chocolate giveaway

Evil Wireless---No Internet---Posting On Iphone---Back soon!!!

Happy Earth Day

Love your mother!

Fresh Air Fund - Got room to help a child?

I think this is a great thing! I wanted to share it with my readers. If you can't open your home maybe you can donate. Hey I know money is tight every where but every little bit counts. The button to donate is on my side bar. The child you help today could turn out to be the doctor who saves your life down the road.

This next part I am taking directly from their literature because they say it all very succinctly. "THE FRESH AIR FUND, an independent, not-for-profit agency, has provided free summer experiences to more than 1.7 million New York City children from low-income communities since 1877. Nearly 10,000 New York City children enjoy free Fresh Air Fund programs annually. In 2008, close to 5,000 children visited volunteer host families in suburbs and small town communities across 13 states from Virginia to Maine and Canada. 3,000 children also attended five Fresh Air camps on a 2,300-acre site in Fishkill, New York. The Fund’s year-round camping program serves an additional 2,000 young people each year.

In 1877, the Reverend Willard Parsons, minister of a small rural parish in Sherman, Pennsylvania, asked members of his congregation to provide country vacations as volunteer host families for children from New York City tenements. This was the beginning of The Fresh Air Fund tradition. By 1884, Reverend Parsons was writing about The Fund for New York’s Herald Tribune, and the number of children served grew. In 2008, close to 10,000 New York City children experienced the joys of summertime in Friendly Towns and at five Fund camps in upstate New York"

See it is a worthy cause! Help if you can and please pass this on to others!

It's Earth Week at our house or maybe Earth Life?

Earth Day is coming up and I never quit know what to do to 'celebrate'. Is this a party holiday? A protesters rally day? A peaceful examination of life? A joyful look at spring and her beauty?

Earth day is of course "a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment" (wikipedia) How do you go about this? What are you doing specifically? Yes I am talking to you, leave me a comment...please?

As a family we are pretty earth aware:
we short shower
compost
recycle
reuse
reduce
eat locally
eat organically
grow our own food
shop farmers markets
support local ag
freecycle
raise our own meat and eggs
turn off the furnace in summer
line dry ALL laundry May through September

Last year I had an earth friendly mandate for us which was to quit using paper towels and napkins. I bought 48 red and white plaid wash clothes and we pretty much use those as napkins and for paper towel replacements we use old clothes cut in to rags. It worked well for us and now
I have 2 new earth friendly mandates for our family:
1) are going to catch and reuse our rainwater this year
2) we are going to build a solar oven to cook our food with for the summer

I think those are both totally doable and great ways to leave an even smaller foot print.

Now for some food! My food day was pretty normal for me:
breakfast-yogurt, golden flax seed meal, honey
hot coffee with milk
snack-Newman's Own Organics Alphabet Cookies-good! These are a PERFECT preschool snack
lunch-bean soup (last of it!!)and salad
snack-homemade iced coffee
dinner-grilled chicken, whole wheat spaghetti, dry fried green beans and mama Tso and Tso's sauce

This last weekend I made another Banana Cake and it was so good the plate came home empty.
Spring has come at last and suddenly we are all systems GOOOOOOOO! for summer. That's really exhausting. Here is our rhubarb poking it's head up for the first time this year! I am excited because last year I pretty much hacked it out of the ground in the fall and chopped it to pieces because it was so over grown. All the pieces seem to be rooted and oh holy cow I know some friends are going to find rhubarb plants abandoned at their back door like zucchinis

Oh and the biggest news of ALL-our robins are back! Woot.

Frugal Fridays Recycled Reuseable Snack Bags up for Auction!

Over at SITS! Please stop in and help raise money for Mom it Forward and Yehu a Microfinance organization in Kenya. Awesome chance to help people get a leg up in this world. Check it out.

Food wise my day was great but I must be in serious sugar de-tox because ALL I WANT IS SUGAR. Tough day, everyone is sick-ish, spring is here and I really can't get out with my foot and all. It's just tough at this time of year and food is really tempting to me.

Breakfast-yogurt, honey, Newman's Own Organic Prunes and golden flax meal yum my new favorite breakfast
hot coffee with nonfat milk

lunch-mega spinach salad with tofu, a boiled egg, feta, Newman's Own Organic dried cranberries and their Balsamic Vinegar-wow a beautiful salad
snack-Newman's Own Organic Champion Chip Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
dinner-ham and bean soup with cantaloupe
What do I want? About 40 pounds of chocolate :)

Another Awesome Mail Day! + my daily battle of the bulge

I came home today to a HUGE box on my back porch. Oh! It was dropped off by Fed-Ex (who totally drove off the driveway to avoid a mud puddle and MADE A HUGE RUT) and a message on my answering machine that said "Laura, please come to the post office your birds are here!" Wow, great mail day, again. This was our second delivery of birds in 4 days, our 25 rare breed chicks came in Monday morning at 5 AM. Um, yeah, I didn't go pick them up until 8 AM because...well because.

So today's bird box contained 7 turkey, 7 ducks and 2 geese. Aside from the baby chicks we got Monday this was the cutest box of cuteness I have ever seen.
Check it out--->

turkeys ducks and geese

25 baby chicks!


What was in the Fed Ex box you ask? Well I was curious about that too and it turns out it was from foodbuzz for whom I am a featured publisher. It was part of their tastemaker program and it was PASTA. Yum, it looks good and I can't wait to try it. The box was huge though and weighed 15 pounds. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why they sent me 15 pounds of pasta. They didn't, the package weighed 15 pounds, the pasta(?) weighed 9 ounces. What? Luckily I can recycle most of the packaging.

As part of my on going battle of the bulge and attempting to : 1) eat real food/avoid frankenfood 2) eat local when possible 3) actually consume real serving sizes I am going to tag on my daily eats to my posts as part of my accountability
So here goes
breakfast- hot coffee w/skim milk
nancy's plain non-fat yogurt with strawberries, 2 prunes (Newmans Own Orgainc they are nothing but prune and OH SO GOOD and soft!) honey and cold milled golden flax
lunch-salad with feta, mushrooms, tomatoes, peas and olive oil
nut thins crackers (pecan!! so good) and cantaloupe
snack- cantaloupe and 1 ounce pirate booty
dinner-Italian grinder and sweet maui onion chips
water all day 8 - 10 glasses
I felt slightly out of control in my eating today maybe because the day was so over booked with STUFF that I felt a bit manic? Not sure but it's definitely there.

Here is breakfast the rest were spent on the run :(I guess I should ask this question: tag a daily eats on to this blog? or create a second blog to chronicle my journey with real food and weight loss? HMMMMMMM... what do you all think?

Singapore Stew

I found this recipe years ago in a Sunset weeknight dinners article. I should say the original recipe because I have lost the original recipe and this is how I make it now and it's good. It can be served alone or over rice, brown basmati is particularly good here. Fish sauce is also a nice touch if you have it/can stand the smell of it.

Singapore Soup
20 ounces of lean ground turkey
1-2 teaspoons of Chinese five spice powder-to taste
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
dash of pepper

mix and make in to bite sized meat balls
pan fry in a cast iron skillet
remove as they become brown
when all the meatballs are cooked
deglaze the pan with 2 cups of water and bring to a boil
reduce heat and pop the meatballs back in
simmer until for 5 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through
add:
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 can diced tomatoes - fresh if you have them will work
1 can baby corn drained and chopped
1 small bunch of bok choy cut into bite sized pieces
1 can of lite coconut milk
warm until the bok choy is wilted
serve with fresh basil




A note on fish sauce- I have trouble with fish sauce. When I was pregnant with boy #2 my husband played an April 1st prank on my oldest son by replacing his syrup with fish sauce and I put it on his waffles. He chowed down about 1/2 a waffle before realizing it wasn't syrup but some other nasty flavor. I took a big whiff and nearly threw up. My relationship with fish sauce has never really recovered from that deception. It's OK though my son got him back by putting Tabasco in his morning coffee. Then the husband retaliated by pouring worschestire sauce in his jello, which he made to eat in the middle of the night, on the sly. Yes, you can say that again, that is some funked up s*#t going on up here! Life with boys is never dull. Or quiet.

Best. Pie. Crust. Ever

This is so easy and delicious you'll never go back to pre-made again, promise. You will need to use a food processor or else it really is hard to make and no fun at all. People are always surprised/impressed when I bring a pie with homemade crust as if I am super woman (OK, I am but no need to grovel, right?) and even if the pie is not that great (yeah right) they think I rock and now, you too, can rock


Pie Crust ----- makes 2 crusts
2 1/2 cups all purpose unbleached flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup unsalted butter cut in chunks
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup ice cold water


whirl dry ingredients together
add butter and pulse to chop until flour looks like course meal 10-15 seconds
add ice water and pulse quickly 1 tablespoon at a time=1 pulse at a time
when dough holds together stop adding water
remove from the bowl and divide the dough in half
flatten each piece in to a disk and wrap in plastic wrap
refrigerate 60 minutes, keep 1 in the refrigerator while working with the other
roll out on a lightly floured surface until 2 inches wider than your pie pan
roll on to the rolling pin and unroll on the pie pan
pat in to place chill until ready to use
repeat for a second 1 crust pie or roll second crust out as a top crust and lay over your filling trimming and crimping as desired

Fresh Water Pearl Bracelet giveaway-Winners

I had 3 winners for my fresh water pearl bracelets and they are:
Amy @ http://keepingupwiththeschultzfamily.blogspot.com/
Michelle @ http://honestandtruly.blogspot.com/ and
http://newsaroundtheblogs.blogspot.com/

Yeah!! Thanks for playing ladies! Your bracelets will be on the way soon. Don't forget to keep entering the codes inside your cheerios boxes to help women who can't afford health care. We can help stop heart disease if we work together.

Frugal Fridays Recycled Reuseable Snack Bags

It seems like I have been blazing through ziplocs lately and not for things that really need to be 'airlocked' but more for crowd control, if you know what I mean. Pretzels to take with you don't really need a ziploc, they do however need to be kept together and easy for a 3 year old to carry. Hmmmm.... Enter the reusable snack bag! I saw these on a blog somewhere out there in the blogapalooza and thought hnnhh I can do that and I did.

I made them from scraps of material about 4X6 inches or so (sew?) and stitched them on 3 sides with the right sides together. I turned them and sewed in a casing for the drawstring leaving a little opening to thread in the string. The I pounded in 2 grommets, threaded the drawstring and pulled it through the grommets. I tied the ends of the string and finished the casing I had left open and voila! A sweet reusable, recycled snack bag for crowd control snacks. Of course I wouldn't put anything greasy or slimy in it but I am sure we will fill it with tons of other stuff: goldfish, pretzels, carrots, raisins, cheese sticks, peanuts, grahams, gum, dirt(boys you know!) and just about anything else we can think of.

Whats that you said? You want some sweet snack sacks too but can't sew? Or you don't have time? Well I will be donating a set of 4 snack sacks over at SITS for Mom it Forward. The auction is April 17-18. Don't worry I'll remind you/beg you to bid on my little item. OK I'll start now, please please please don't let my snack sacks go un-bid upon....please? Thanks!

Newman's Own Organic Spelt Pretzels before...



After in their stylish new home but not for long, man those are the best pretzels! And they have 4 grams of fiber per serving, healthy snacking!

Wacky Cake Part II photos and results

The results are in and it is fabulous! It has a fine crumb believe it or not and the taste is wonderful. I wanted to post the photos so you could see that, yes, it really does work.

Wacky Cake - Dump Cake Delish Surprise it's Vegan!!

This old cake was popular during the war when rationing limited foods like milk, eggs, sugar and butter. It uses baking soda and vinegar mixed at the last moment for lift instead of eggs. It's really good and a lot of fun to make with kids. The original recipe called for 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour and 1/2 cup of oil but I lightened it up a bit without compromising taste. If you like, feel free to use the original ingredients

2 bits of wisdom on this cake 1)make it right in the pan, no really! 2) do not over mix simply stir until only a few streaks of flour remain then quickly pop it in the oven



Wacky Cake
Serves 6 to 8
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup apple sauce
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup water
Confectioners' sugar

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees and grease your pan
8X8 is a good size
Sift the flours, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in the prepared pan. Make 1 large and 2 small craters in the dry ingredients. Add the oil and apple sauce to the large crater and vinegar and vanilla separately to the remaining small craters. Pour the water into the pan and mix until just a few streaks of flour remain. Immediately put the pan in the oven.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 30 minutes. Cool in the pan, then dust with confectioners' sugar. (The cake can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.)

Crock Pot Cowboy Stew + An AWESOME mail day

Maybe I should reverse the title because I won't be able to contain my mail surprise for much longer! We spent the weekend getting ready for summer and by this I mean getting the house in order so I can spend AS MUCH TIME as possible outside and not have worry about inside stuff except cooking and the occasional cleaning. Off track there, sorry. I also started to wear a real shoe on the "fixed foot" this week so this morning was spent stumping around figuring out how to walk again. After lunch the cry went up "The UPS guy is here!!!" he only brings us happiness in boxes you know, not bills, ever.

The box was HUGE and marked from Newman's Own Organics. Holy guacamole! It was full to stuffed with Newman's Own Organics products. My kids were ecstatic. Literally jumping around saying "that UPS guy is SOOOOO nice" They could not believe all the beautiful food in that box was for them to try out. You have to understand, my kids lead a sheltered food life. Seriously. No cookies, microwave popcorn, pop tarts, granola bars, not a lot in "cool packs with PICTURES on it!!" Which was shouted several times. We buy a lot of bulk foods but we do buy Newman's Own Organic Alphabet Cookies for fun though and the no high fructose corn syrup thing, too. So to see this huge box o' goodies was almost more than they could take. They, of course, wanted to try everything at once but we had just finished lunch, so we took some pictures of this MEGA box, tried some Peppermint candies and let our geriatric yellow lab have some Turkey and Sweet Potato treats. We enjoyed the Peppermints immensely, not too hot and not too sweet. The dog tried to remove my hand for the sweet heart shaped biscuits, didn't know she still had it in her. We tried Newman O's for our bedtime snack and yeah my kids are in love. But I don't mind! These are occasional treats from an reputable company and they are about as healthy as you can get...for cookies that is. Who doesn't need a cookie every once in a while, right?

On to Cowboy Stew. In the summer I don't like to cook. It gets in the way of being outside. So I employ several tactics to get me through. There is the throw stuff on the grill tactic, thaw and grill baby. The salad tactic, everything can be a salad. Right? The 'oh I forgot what time it was, shouldn't you take me out to dinner tactic' I don't use this one much but I have it IF I ever NEED it. The crock pot tactic, pop it in and 8 hours late it's done, woot! Yes I know it's lame but summers are short and sweet and I hate to be in when the sun is shining, period. Cowboy Stew is an old favorite I pulled out because we are having company over and I won't be home to cook much. It has many variations so please feel free to play around with this basic recipe and make it yours.

Cowboy Stew
1 pound stewing beef in chunks
3 cans great northern beans drained and rinsed
4 potatoes scrubbed and cut in chunks
2 cups water
1 cup barbecue sauce-with out high fructose corn syrup Tony Romas Natural or Bullseye
1 teaspoon garlic granules or powder
salt and pepper to taste-after cooking

add everything to the crock pot and cook on high for 1 hour and low for 6 or so
play around with it because all crock pots cook different
I have cooked this for 9 hours on low and it was fine
Serve with a salad and biscuits, perfect, they will think you slaved all day. HA!

In other news you can still enter my fresh water pearl bracelet giveaway here. Please feel free to enter daily until Friday and no flaming hoops to jump through.

Basic White Sauce=Bechamel Sauce--Make Mine Cheese Please

I made Mac and Cheese for dinner last night and I'll be danged if the cheese sauce didn't curdle! Ughhhh This has happened to me twice in the last 4 times I have made a cheese sauce. I did a little research to find out what is going on and I think I figured it out.

So a white sauce or bechamel sauce is basically:

1/4 cup of butter
1/4 of flour
2 cups of milk
salt and pepper to taste

melt the butter, whisk in the flour
cook for 5 minutes
slowly add the milk simmer 20 minutes
and season as needed

For Mac and Cheese add 2 cups of various grated cheeses, blend with cooked pasta and bake for 25 minutes, simple right?
Yep sure until your cheese sauce curdles. But I think I figured out the culprit(s): whole wheat flour, skim milk (I know I know!) and over heating the cheese

1) every recipe seems to call for all purpose flour so I think the fine flour is a key player

2) they also call for milk-whole not skim!! So I plan to work around with this one and see how much skim I can squeeze in without affecting the consistency

3) and finally all recipes call for the sauce to be removed from the heat before adding cheese and
blending it gently

What do you all think? I know my Grandmothers Mac n Cheese was a bit grainy but it wasn't like this at all. Am I on the right trail?? I'll be sure to post results as I go and let you all know what happens. I think it may be a while before I make a cheese sauce again, I only make them every couple months or so.

Frugal Fridays-Sometimes cheap is just not worth it

I have written this post over in my head many times and on here many times and every time I write it I end up sounding 'holier than thou'---EWWWW I don't want to come off like that. So here's the deal, I love to save money just as much as everybody else but sometimes that good deal is not so good. We are addicted to cheap in America. There I said it.

The abundant cheap crap available for less than a buck is tempting but how soon will it break? How many times will you have to replace it? What pleasure do you get from a product that never actually works right? Where did it come from. What is it made of? Is it safe? Those are all questions to ask ourselves when the temptation to buy buy buy cheap junk is right in front of us. The old adage of 'you get what you pay for' also comes to mind except I don't think anyone 'pays' for lead in their toys paint, right?

And here's one more reason to save your money and buy quality products once instead of crap 3-4 times; where does ALL the junk end up? Yep, in a landfill somewhere. Never rotting just sitting around for a couple hundred years.

So before you hit up those dollar stores that are such a good deal, think about what you might be getting instead, sweatshop produced, badly made, possibly dangerous products. Yuck that doesn't sound like too much of a bargain does it?

Did I come off to preachy? I guess what I wanted to say was; OK time for us to stop being China's bitch. Maybe short and simple was better.

And just a note- I do know that buying 'quality' products is not a guarantee that they wont be crap. I know this because the 'made in America' coffee maker/espresso machine that I bought for my husband is a giant piece of junk. I lost the receipt! and cannot take it back. Right out of the box the very first use it spilled water when poured and has everyday since. Nice right? And now it doesn't do pour and serve and the numbers washed off the side. Espresso? Nope not hardly.

Please check out the Cheerios post below to help women without health care get cholesterol screening and stop heart disease, the number one killer of women. Thanks!

Fresh Water Pearl Bracelet giveaway

Now through January 2010 you can help women that don't have adequate healthcare. Simply by entering the code found inside Cheerios boxes you can help provide cholesterol screening! For every code entered they will donate 1 dollar to women in need! That is awesome! Heart disease is the number one cause of death in women and cholesterol screening can help change that, through early detection and diet change.

I have 3 cute, adorable fresh water pearl bracelets to give away to help raise awareness! Simply check out your cheerios boxes and if you have boxes with codes enter them here www.cheerioshelpinghearts.com. Or check out the site and tell me what you think. Tell me why helping women in need is important to you. Tell about someone you love battling high cholesterol and how they are doing it. Or post your numbers-ACK. Link back to my post. Leave me a comment and that's your entry. It's simple! You can enter daily, in fact please do. I am only taking comments on THIS post but will try to link back to this post on my daily writing.


I really want to help women fight heart disease, it took my one remaining Grandparent, the only one I ever knew. I miss her. Lets work together to end this disease. Miss you Gram!

Making Polenta- A basic Polenta Recipe

Otherwise known as grits or cornmeal mush, polenta is a great side dish and very versatile. Basically it is medium grind cornmeal. I buy my polenta in the natural foods section of the local chain store. It's cheap at 89 cents a pound in the bulk food section, one pound of polenta makes a lot. When you bring it home it is a good idea to freeze it for 24 hour to make sure it remains bug free. I have been buying whole grains in the bulk foods area for a long time and not once have I had that problem but I don't EVER want to have that problem so I freeze.

Polenta is also very versatile. I use it in place of pasta by just having sauce right on top (or ratatouille)of it or fajita and taco meat on top it great. I like to cook up a pot, spread it in a loaf pan, chill it, slice it and fry it as a side to eggs or a light salad. I use it under soup in the bottom of the bowl, by the time you get to it it is flavored like the soup.

Polenta

4 cups water
1 1/2 cups of polenta/medium grain cornmeal
salt and pepper to taste

In a large sauce pan bring water to a boil
reduce heat to medium/low and slowly whisk in the cornmeal
cook stirring occasionally over medium/low for 15-20 minutes adding water as need to maintain a creamy consistency
if you are in a hurry it will be ready to go after 10 minutes but it seems to taste better after a longer cook
you can also keep slowly adding water and cook it longer if you want
it is very flexible

I have found if you want to chill it in a loaf pan you want to cook it with less water so it will set up better for cutting. Experiment by adding cheeses or spices and using it in creative ways. It may seem like a lot of work but if you made loaf pan while you were already cooking something else and set it to chill in the refrigerator for later use it wouldn't be all that much work. Think how nice it would be to come home, whip up a pasta sauce and serve it over pre-cooked and pan fried polenta.