We had some food waste this week as well. Booooo! There was a couple of wasted onions that I didn't get to in time. Also, there was some wasted Spanish Tortilla that I made for my Spanish class. It was interesting. I think there are things I could have done better with it. So I'll have to try it again soon. We also had a couple of bread tragedies here in the land of Tracy. We had the tail end of an Italian loaf go wrong, and we had a few slices of sandwich bread go bad. The sandwich bread was really annoying because it was still well within its expiration date. But oh well. C'est la vive. Sra. J, if you could tell me how to say that in Spanish, I'd use it instead because I really don't know French. I'm working on the now waste. Gotta get back on the no waste Friday!
Now onward to the menu!
Due to some unforeseen events this past week, 2 meals will have to be moved to this week instead.
So, without further ado, here's the menu
Breakfasts will be cereal, muffins, oatmeal, etc.
Lunches will be leftovers, sandwiches, etc.
Suppers are as follows:
Saturday
*Spaghetti
*Salad
*Garlic Bread
Sunday
*BBQ Ribs (carried over from last week)
*Mashed Potatoes
*Green beans
Monday
*Fish fillets
*Baked fries
Tuesday
*complete meal in a bag (Carried over from last week)
Wednesday
*Pizza day!
Thursday
*Fried Chicken
*Mac-n-cheese
*Mixed squash
Friday *New Recipe Night*
*Creamy lasagna casserole (Taste of home cookbook)
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Thimble Thursdays....Patterns
I'm still working on my crocheting and my cross stitch. I've slowed down on those as this week and the first part of next is finals and I've been hitting the books pretty hard. So, I've not been tending to those as much as I would have liked. However, I do have this summer off so I'll be able to accomplish more. On that note, I found some rather interesting patterns the other day at the salvation army that I liked. There is this skirt pattern that is really nice, and I figured that would be something to make for myself. And for those that know me, pick yourself up off the floor. Yes, I know I don't wear skirts, generally I don't LIKE skirts, however, sometimes there is a need for a skirt and I'd like to have one if I need it. Also, found a nice suit pattern. Which I will need a few of these for when I'm teaching. And last but not least there are these flare pant/hoodie type of pattern straight from the 70s. I showed it to my Mom and she was all about making them. (a memory of her youth) So there you have it. :) OH and I will have my bag cut out by the next Seams To Me meeting on the 4th. :D Anyways, good times are ahead!
So, do you guys have any good craft projects you're working on?
So, do you guys have any good craft projects you're working on?
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Wednesday's Hearth...gardening and recipes of all kinds!
Yup, its the middle of the week again and there are a couple of recipes to share with you today. Two are food recipes and one is a cleansing recipe that I found in a book I got from the library, and it is really awesome. But first, lets tackle the garden! This past week my niece, the Goob, and I planted our pumpkins out back. Since then Momma Na decided to bring us lots of cold water, so since today seems like it's the prettiest day, I'm going to go out there and see if they've drown or not. My seedlings aren't flourishing like I would hope that they would, so I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing wrong. I'll have to figure it out. But my cucumbers are awesome! They're thriving in the window sill at the moment. Hurray! I grew something!
Now onward to the recipes. First is the recipe for the cleanser. This is a natural face cleanser. This is a cleanser for those who have dry or sensitive skin.
Oatmeal Cleanser
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup oatmeal (quick cook, plain, not instant)
1 tbsp honey
Put all ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth.
Place in an air tight container.
To use: Place a small amount in your hand and massage onto your face, rinse with tepid water and pat dry.
Oh and cheap and easy eye makeup remover!
(I worked retail and this is always between $4-8 per SMALL bottle. This always amazed me.)
1 tbsp each Canola oil, caster oil, and light olive oil.
Mix together and put into a clean container.
To use: put on a cotton swab and wipe over your lashes and eyelids.
Now onto the food recipes!
Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins-makes 24 muffins (as gotten from The Frugal Girl
Dry Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (or 2 teaspoons cinnamon + 1/4 teaspoon of cloves, ginger, and allspice)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup oil
2 cups peeled, chopped apples
Streusel
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 teaspoons butter
Heat over to 350. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, pumpkin and oil together. Stir apples into pumpkin mixture. Gently mix pumpkin mixture into dry ingredients. Spoon batter into 24 greased muffin cups.
Combine streusel ingredients, using a pastry blender. Sprinkle on top of muffins.
Bake 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.
And
Beef Tortilla Casserole
2lbs ground beef
1 medium onion
8oz jar of taco sauce
6 corn tortillas cut into 1in strips
16oz sour cream
8oz of cheddar cheese
Cut up onion
Brown ground beef with onion until done.
Drain
Mix in taco sauce.
Add tortilla strips
Place half the mixture in a greased casserole dish (2.5 quart dish) and layer 1/2 of the sour cream and half the cheese. Repeat layers. And place in a pre-heated 375 degree oven. Cook until cheese is melty and bubbly.
(this is the basic recipe. Next time I'll probably cook the meat in a taco seasoning and add some salsa to the mix. It's good on its own, but for me, it's missing something texturally, and for Mr. V it's missing a certain "kick" he's used to)
Now onward to the recipes. First is the recipe for the cleanser. This is a natural face cleanser. This is a cleanser for those who have dry or sensitive skin.
Oatmeal Cleanser
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup oatmeal (quick cook, plain, not instant)
1 tbsp honey
Put all ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth.
Place in an air tight container.
To use: Place a small amount in your hand and massage onto your face, rinse with tepid water and pat dry.
Oh and cheap and easy eye makeup remover!
(I worked retail and this is always between $4-8 per SMALL bottle. This always amazed me.)
1 tbsp each Canola oil, caster oil, and light olive oil.
Mix together and put into a clean container.
To use: put on a cotton swab and wipe over your lashes and eyelids.
Now onto the food recipes!
Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins-makes 24 muffins (as gotten from The Frugal Girl
Dry Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (or 2 teaspoons cinnamon + 1/4 teaspoon of cloves, ginger, and allspice)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup oil
2 cups peeled, chopped apples
Streusel
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 teaspoons butter
Heat over to 350. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, pumpkin and oil together. Stir apples into pumpkin mixture. Gently mix pumpkin mixture into dry ingredients. Spoon batter into 24 greased muffin cups.
Combine streusel ingredients, using a pastry blender. Sprinkle on top of muffins.
Bake 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.
And
Beef Tortilla Casserole
2lbs ground beef
1 medium onion
8oz jar of taco sauce
6 corn tortillas cut into 1in strips
16oz sour cream
8oz of cheddar cheese
Cut up onion
Brown ground beef with onion until done.
Drain
Mix in taco sauce.
Add tortilla strips
Place half the mixture in a greased casserole dish (2.5 quart dish) and layer 1/2 of the sour cream and half the cheese. Repeat layers. And place in a pre-heated 375 degree oven. Cook until cheese is melty and bubbly.
(this is the basic recipe. Next time I'll probably cook the meat in a taco seasoning and add some salsa to the mix. It's good on its own, but for me, it's missing something texturally, and for Mr. V it's missing a certain "kick" he's used to)
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Triple "R" Tuesday...The many uses of Baking Soda...
This week I've done my recycling as well as my reducing (well I'm still working on that one. Another huge run to make to the thrift shops to drop off more stuff) and I'm constantly reusing stuff. That's what you do when you need to be frugal. A shower curtain suddenly becomes a bib, or an older towel suddenly becomes a hand towel and wash cloths. But there is something else that we can do. Take what we have and make multi-purpose cleaners that are not only effective, but also better for the environment.
Really, if you have the time, and the elbow grease, you really only need a few tools to get most of the housework accomplished. Vinegar, sodium bicarbonate aka baking soda, bleach, borax and hydrogen peroxide. And I'll go through all of these throughout the time in this blog. But the first one to mention is baking soda. There are innumerable amount of recipes that this can be used for. All from cooking down to beauty supplies, as well as household cleaners. There is no way I could list everything here. So there will be some simple things you can do for the multi-purpose.
Baking:
Baking Soda is used in leavening, much like baking powder, but whatever you do, NEVER think that the two are interchangeable. Because they aren't. If your recipe calls for baking POWDER, use baking powder, and if you're out, go buy some because baking soda will not do.
Household cleaner:
You can sprinkle some of this down your sink once a week and pour vinegar afterward. After watching the volcanic eruption for a few minutes, you can rinse it down with HOT water and this will help keep your drain cleared out and smelling better.
Mix it with water to form a paste and you have a soft scrub. This is good for sinks, showers, tubs, toilets, floors...the list goes on and on. Anywhere you need a soft abrasive this is your friend!
You can add some to your existing wash load to help make things brighter and fresher.
You can put a box in any closed off environment and it will help to remove any foul odor.
If you're really adventurous you could make your own homemade laundry soap this includes baking soda or "super washing soda" which is baking soda on steroids.Laundry soap recipe
Beauty products:
This can be used to wash your hair. 1tbsp per cup of water. Mix well and pour over dry hair, rub in well into the scalp and do this for a minute, and rinse. Follow this with an apple cider vinegar rinse (2tbsp acv to 1 cup water) and you have clean hair that doesn't tangle. This helps remove residue from your shampoos, conditioners, gels, hairsprays, etc. If you're really adventurous, you could wash your hair this way indefinitely. No real need to buy shampoo and conditioner. (and what frugalista wouldn't want to save that money!)
If you have issues with deodorant sometimes irritating your underarms, or if you're trying to get away from the aluminum in deodorants, and you're trying to find a more natural way, baking soda dusted on, followed by corn starch is a good way. Or if you need your stick. Mix some baking soda with some oil, (light safflower/olive/almond etc) until you get a somewhat dry paste, and push it into your deodorant container. For the greener people, this is inexpensive, and a healthy way to keep that bacteria from setting up on your skin and causing that bad body odor. Now this doesn't prevent sweating, so don't get too irritated if you find out this isn't an antiperspirant.
There are so many things you can do with baking soda, it's almost limitless what CAN be done. And this is reusable in so many places, that this is a dream for the unclutterer AND the frugalista. And on top of that it's GOOD for the environment! So that gets a little green smile. So if you have any little ones running around, this is by far much better than them getting a hold of your store bought housecleaning chemicals. :D
So how do YOU use baking soda?
Really, if you have the time, and the elbow grease, you really only need a few tools to get most of the housework accomplished. Vinegar, sodium bicarbonate aka baking soda, bleach, borax and hydrogen peroxide. And I'll go through all of these throughout the time in this blog. But the first one to mention is baking soda. There are innumerable amount of recipes that this can be used for. All from cooking down to beauty supplies, as well as household cleaners. There is no way I could list everything here. So there will be some simple things you can do for the multi-purpose.
Baking:
Baking Soda is used in leavening, much like baking powder, but whatever you do, NEVER think that the two are interchangeable. Because they aren't. If your recipe calls for baking POWDER, use baking powder, and if you're out, go buy some because baking soda will not do.
Household cleaner:
You can sprinkle some of this down your sink once a week and pour vinegar afterward. After watching the volcanic eruption for a few minutes, you can rinse it down with HOT water and this will help keep your drain cleared out and smelling better.
Mix it with water to form a paste and you have a soft scrub. This is good for sinks, showers, tubs, toilets, floors...the list goes on and on. Anywhere you need a soft abrasive this is your friend!
You can add some to your existing wash load to help make things brighter and fresher.
You can put a box in any closed off environment and it will help to remove any foul odor.
If you're really adventurous you could make your own homemade laundry soap this includes baking soda or "super washing soda" which is baking soda on steroids.
Beauty products:
This can be used to wash your hair. 1tbsp per cup of water. Mix well and pour over dry hair, rub in well into the scalp and do this for a minute, and rinse. Follow this with an apple cider vinegar rinse (2tbsp acv to 1 cup water) and you have clean hair that doesn't tangle. This helps remove residue from your shampoos, conditioners, gels, hairsprays, etc. If you're really adventurous, you could wash your hair this way indefinitely. No real need to buy shampoo and conditioner. (and what frugalista wouldn't want to save that money!)
If you have issues with deodorant sometimes irritating your underarms, or if you're trying to get away from the aluminum in deodorants, and you're trying to find a more natural way, baking soda dusted on, followed by corn starch is a good way. Or if you need your stick. Mix some baking soda with some oil, (light safflower/olive/almond etc) until you get a somewhat dry paste, and push it into your deodorant container. For the greener people, this is inexpensive, and a healthy way to keep that bacteria from setting up on your skin and causing that bad body odor. Now this doesn't prevent sweating, so don't get too irritated if you find out this isn't an antiperspirant.
There are so many things you can do with baking soda, it's almost limitless what CAN be done. And this is reusable in so many places, that this is a dream for the unclutterer AND the frugalista. And on top of that it's GOOD for the environment! So that gets a little green smile. So if you have any little ones running around, this is by far much better than them getting a hold of your store bought housecleaning chemicals. :D
So how do YOU use baking soda?
Monday, April 26, 2010
Money Mondays...Be aware of what you're spending and where....
It's another Money Monday and no I don't have any great bargains for you, or where to get free stuffs, etc. I won't be putting that stuff in here. There are a WHOLE lot of other blogs out there just for that purpose. Last week, I mentioned living below your means as a way to accomplish debtlessness (is that even a word?). That is SO much easier said than done. Does that mean that you eat only beans and cornbread and bologna all week long? Not in the least. Does that mean that you might not get a new console game every month? More than likely. Most people want to put aside a little money for emergencies, or their children's college tuition, or even for their retirement. Really when you think of it, you will have one savings for retirement, one for emergencies, one for each child's future tuition, before you know it, you'll not have any money for bills. And unfortunately, unless you can afford to do that AND eek out a current living, that's not a very practical stance to take. You might even say that you cannot afford to save any money because your current living expenses out weigh your income. That's when you need to evaluate what's important to you, and what you can let go, and what you can pay off early to relieve yourself of your monthly debt. You might even want to keep an expense journal for 30 days just to see how you DO spend money. But for that 30 days, you should just keep the receipts for all your transactions, and your bank statements as well as your payroll checks. This way you see exactly what you have coming in, and just what you spend going out. This means even that 89cent burrito from Taco Bell. Keep that receipt, because this adds up over a year's time.
After your 30 days is up, go through all those receipts. Get you some envelopes, mark them, "household", "entertainment", "car", "grocery", "eating out", and "misc.". In the "household" envelope put your rent, utilities, and home insurance (if your car insurance is also attached here, that's fine, put it here in the "household" envelope)/renter's insurance, etc. The "entertainment" envelope, will carry your cable, internet, movie stubs, games, rentals, netflix, gamefly, etc. "Car" envelope is car maintenance, car payments, car insurance (if alone), and gas. "Grocery" is just that, groceries, that you purchase at the store. "Eating out" should be self explanatory, and is NOT to be placed in the "groceries" envelope. If you can't cook, there are THOUSANDS of sites on the web that can help you, and this is infinitely cheaper than eating out for a week. The "misc." envelope is for things that don't fit in here like if you pay your health insurance out of pocket, savings, etc. After you separated those receipts, you should tally up each envelope and see where the bulk of your money goes. You might be surprised just how much actually goes to entertaining yourself, or what goes into the "eating out" envelope.
After you figure out HOW you spend your money, next you should look at it and evaluate just what you need to do to lower some of these expenses. Generally, your household and car are pretty fixed. Depending on what's in your misc. on whether or not that's flexible. Otherwise, groceries, entertainment and finally eating out are the most flexible. You could cut out your eating out to just 1 meal a week. Decide how much an average meal is, and put that amount aside. The rest is surplus to go towards groceries, because more than likely, you'll be spending more money here. HOWEVER, with careful planning, and smart shopping, this expenditure could go down as well. I have friends who've given themselves spending limits on the flexible expenses.
One friend uses an envelope system. She allots herself only $"X" for groceries per month. And she splits that over the 4(average) weeks per month, and that's all she takes the store with her. This buys all her groceries as well as her toiletries, etc. And she can adhere to that, because if the cash isn't there, she can't spend it. This same friend also relies upon her menu to help her out. I'll talk more about menu planning next week and how it can greatly save you money.
Just being aware of how you spend your money could greatly reduce how much you actually spend.
After your 30 days is up, go through all those receipts. Get you some envelopes, mark them, "household", "entertainment", "car", "grocery", "eating out", and "misc.". In the "household" envelope put your rent, utilities, and home insurance (if your car insurance is also attached here, that's fine, put it here in the "household" envelope)/renter's insurance, etc. The "entertainment" envelope, will carry your cable, internet, movie stubs, games, rentals, netflix, gamefly, etc. "Car" envelope is car maintenance, car payments, car insurance (if alone), and gas. "Grocery" is just that, groceries, that you purchase at the store. "Eating out" should be self explanatory, and is NOT to be placed in the "groceries" envelope. If you can't cook, there are THOUSANDS of sites on the web that can help you, and this is infinitely cheaper than eating out for a week. The "misc." envelope is for things that don't fit in here like if you pay your health insurance out of pocket, savings, etc. After you separated those receipts, you should tally up each envelope and see where the bulk of your money goes. You might be surprised just how much actually goes to entertaining yourself, or what goes into the "eating out" envelope.
After you figure out HOW you spend your money, next you should look at it and evaluate just what you need to do to lower some of these expenses. Generally, your household and car are pretty fixed. Depending on what's in your misc. on whether or not that's flexible. Otherwise, groceries, entertainment and finally eating out are the most flexible. You could cut out your eating out to just 1 meal a week. Decide how much an average meal is, and put that amount aside. The rest is surplus to go towards groceries, because more than likely, you'll be spending more money here. HOWEVER, with careful planning, and smart shopping, this expenditure could go down as well. I have friends who've given themselves spending limits on the flexible expenses.
One friend uses an envelope system. She allots herself only $"X" for groceries per month. And she splits that over the 4(average) weeks per month, and that's all she takes the store with her. This buys all her groceries as well as her toiletries, etc. And she can adhere to that, because if the cash isn't there, she can't spend it. This same friend also relies upon her menu to help her out. I'll talk more about menu planning next week and how it can greatly save you money.
Just being aware of how you spend your money could greatly reduce how much you actually spend.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Food Waste Friday/Menu...
As a means of keeping myself accountable for the wasted food in the house, I followed The Frugal Girl's lead. So every week will be a post about how much food was wasted for the week.
Well, this week was not a triumphant week in the land of Tracy. We did have some waste. :( We had about a third of an italian loaf go to waste, a quarter of a sandwich loaf go to waste, and way too much ground beef, that I'd rather not talk about. It makes me WAY too sad to think on it. The italian loaf, I just couldn't figure out what ELSE to do with it. The sandwich loaf bums me because we were about to have some pb &j's when I figured out that the mold monster had gotten it before I could finish it off. So lunch was delayed while I was scrambling about trying to figure what else to have. And again, the ground beef I don't want to discuss...
Now onto the menu for next week. I repeat I absolutely LOVE this new habit of mine. We're fine tuning it. We've realized that breakfast and lunches are pretty much the same all week and are always on the fly/leftovers, etc. But this DOES make supper making so much easier when you know exactly what you're having, so you can make it. PLUS it makes grocery shopping faster and easier. No more going down EACH isle trying to find stuff to eat. YAY! Anyways! ONWARD yon menu!!!
Breakfasts will be the usual cereal, toast, eggs, pancakes. Lunches are leftovers and sandwiches.
Saturday
*Fried Pork Chops
*Baked Sweet Potatoes
*corn
Sunday
*Complete meal in a bag (need to get it out of the freezer)
Monday
*Ribs (bbq/glazed)
*Mashed potatoes
*Green beans
Tuesday
*Grilled burgers and hotdogs
*fries
Wednesday
*Pizza Night!!!
Thursday
*Steak
*Baked potato
*Salad
Friday (new recipe night)
*Roasted Italian Chicken w/ veggies (Meals with a Mission Cook Book)
Saturday
*Spaghetti
*Garlic bread
Well, this week was not a triumphant week in the land of Tracy. We did have some waste. :( We had about a third of an italian loaf go to waste, a quarter of a sandwich loaf go to waste, and way too much ground beef, that I'd rather not talk about. It makes me WAY too sad to think on it. The italian loaf, I just couldn't figure out what ELSE to do with it. The sandwich loaf bums me because we were about to have some pb &j's when I figured out that the mold monster had gotten it before I could finish it off. So lunch was delayed while I was scrambling about trying to figure what else to have. And again, the ground beef I don't want to discuss...
Now onto the menu for next week. I repeat I absolutely LOVE this new habit of mine. We're fine tuning it. We've realized that breakfast and lunches are pretty much the same all week and are always on the fly/leftovers, etc. But this DOES make supper making so much easier when you know exactly what you're having, so you can make it. PLUS it makes grocery shopping faster and easier. No more going down EACH isle trying to find stuff to eat. YAY! Anyways! ONWARD yon menu!!!
Breakfasts will be the usual cereal, toast, eggs, pancakes. Lunches are leftovers and sandwiches.
Saturday
*Fried Pork Chops
*Baked Sweet Potatoes
*corn
Sunday
*Complete meal in a bag (need to get it out of the freezer)
Monday
*Ribs (bbq/glazed)
*Mashed potatoes
*Green beans
Tuesday
*Grilled burgers and hotdogs
*fries
Wednesday
*Pizza Night!!!
Thursday
*Steak
*Baked potato
*Salad
Friday (new recipe night)
*Roasted Italian Chicken w/ veggies (Meals with a Mission Cook Book)
Saturday
*Spaghetti
*Garlic bread
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Happy EARTH Day! :D
Happy Earth Day everyone! Don't forget to drink out of reusable glasses and containers, use glass over plastic (if you can), walk instead of drive (if you can), read outside instead of watch tv or play on the computer (If you can, and BAD me!). Turn off your computer and other electric items, and open those windows! It's a gorgeous day out there in the land of Tracy. We have all our windows open. I went to school, and now I'm home for the day. About to go outside and finish working on my spot and plant some pumpkins and then just enjoy the day with my family, probably outside enjoying this weather while we have it. :)
So what are you guys doing to celebrate Earth Day? What do you do every day that is more Earth friendly? Do you bicycle instead of drive? Do you garden? Do you by local and/or organic? Do you re-purpose things?
So what are you guys doing to celebrate Earth Day? What do you do every day that is more Earth friendly? Do you bicycle instead of drive? Do you garden? Do you by local and/or organic? Do you re-purpose things?
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