Cooking for a Crowd: Episode 2

Well this month's Crowd Meal didn't go as planned. I had everything all figured out, shopping done over a week ago, and turkey thawing in the refrigerator since Monday. I was going to make Turkey Noodle Soup with a turkey I had bought at .55/lb. the week of Thanksgiving. We're getting half a beef this month and I've been working on clearing out my deep freezer so we have plenty of room for it, so it worked out perfectly that I was in charge of the crowd meal in time to get the 20 lb. tom out of the way. I had the most brilliant idea to get a large one and use some of the meat for the crowd meal and still have a few pounds for Aaron's lunches. Cost for his lunches have been much higher than I prefer, so I was pretty excited to have meat for sandwiches at such a low price.

But plans changed.

As I said, I had pulled the turkey out of the freezer on Monday so it would be thawed in time to roast Friday. I figured that would be easier than trying to cook a turkey and take care of all the rest of the food prep as well on Saturday, leaving me no extra time to work with in case of something else coming up on Aaron's day home. So Friday morning I pulled out my electric roaster and got to work! I didn't even think of a turkey being too big for it for some reason. I knew the bird wouldn't fit in my in-oven roasting pan, so the electric one was my only option. Thankfully it was just the right size. After reading up on the directions (this was my first time cooking a turkey), I found great reviews on how the roaster makes the meat even more moist and takes less cooking time than an oven-cooked turkey. Schweet!

When the clock reached the "should be almost done" time, I checked on it, but the temperature wasn't up where it needed to be yet. I started getting hungry for moist turkey dipped in homemade barbecue sauce. Yum. But it needed more time. Later that afternoon, it still wasn't quite there! Everything looked good, juices were starting to run clear, but it still wasn't at 180*. We had plans to be out of town for the evening, so I figured I'd have just enough time to de-bone it before we had to leave. Fast forward a good hour, and I was ready to dig in! The meat had fallen off the legs by now and it was so nice and moist, so I pulled it out and started carving. It had been in there since 11am, making for a good 5 hours of cooking time, which was twice what directions said it should take. Once I cut into some of the darker meat on the back the juices weren't quite as pretty as I had been finding elsewhere. It still was barely done, so I put it back in and turned the temperature down so it wouldn't be way overdone when we got back later that evening. We were going to be gone a few hours, which would just about double the time it had already been cooking. When we got back, the first thing Aaron did when he got in the door was check on it. It wasn't hot. Sometime while we were gone the roaster had shut off! So, Tom still wasn't really done. After analyzing it (keeping in mind how fragile meat is), we decided it was still salvageable at this point. It was late though and I was tired and honestly didn't feel like shredding a turkey at that hour, so we turned the heat back up and went to bed. 

I checked it once in the middle of the night and things were looking good. But in the morning, Aaron was up and lifted the lid ... to find an almost cold turkey. It no longer smelled like Thanksgiving. It looked yucky. It was officially trash. (sigh) There goes my eleven and some dollar deal. There goes Aaron's lunch meat. And there goes my plan for the big meal. What a way to wake up in the morning! Now I had to come up with a plan B and I only had that day to do it! The only thing we could come up with was chili and cornbread, so that's what we ended up making. 

I already had the beef, and just needed a few extra ingredients to supplement what I already had in order to pull off a meal to feed 40. I bought more dry beans, cornmeal, and some sour cream. Here's what everything ended up costing:

$21.96 for the pot of chili. Tomatoes were canned from the garden, so besides some spices and salt, the only expense I had into it was 6 lbs. of beef ($11.88), 2 lbs. dry beans (3.50), and 48oz. sour cream for serving (6.58). It made for a nice meaty chili, and my husband raved about it all day. He couldn't stop telling me that my chili is his favorite. Lots of meat. Not too much hot spice. Not too many beans. So I guess it was just right. I trust his opinion.

$9.00 for the cornbread. I had planned on making two oblong pans full and made some mix for easy prep when I got there, since cornbread tastes so much better warm. 1/3 of the people didn't end up showing, so we really only needed half the cornbread mix I had prepared. So technically, the expense was more like $5.00, since I still have half of the mix leftover. This dollar amount covers the butter and maple syrup to go with it as well. I like serving maple syrup with cornbread especially when feeding others because it makes so much less mess than honey and is easier to transport. It does cost a bit less as well, and tastes at least as good! 

Leftovers included 1/2 container sour cream, which was something I had chopped from our personal grocery list this month in order to cut costs. I have enchiladas on the menu sometime in the next week so with the sour cream leftover, now we'll be able to have some with that meal! Also, we had a bit of soup left. Aaron took some this morning for his lunch, and we have enough still in the refrigerator for a supper and one more lunch. And there's the other half of the cornbread mix.

All in all, my expense was $30.96 (or $26.96 if I'm only counting what cornbread I actually made). I'm pretty happy with that number considering I didn't have time to plan for sales or any extra cost cutting. Generally I aim for a $30 budget when I'm doing a crowd meal, so I was hovering right around that line. (Let's just forget about that $11 turkey I had to throw out, okay?) 

Houseplant Successes and Failures - and the Birthday of a Poinsettia

I'm not a green thumb. Messing around in dirt just has never been my thing. But that doesn't mean I'll never try my hand at growing something new. You've heard about our ginormous garden and read about various canning we've done, but that was all from outdoor gardening, and it only somewhat thrived this year. I've attempted keeping plants around my house, too.

After Adam was born he was pretty stuffy for awhile and we couldn't seem to figure out why. We tried a humidifier and various other recommended ways to help him, but I'm not sure how much all our efforts played into his actual healing. When our neighbor, who has been a gardening expert all her life, heard about him, she suggested getting some houseplants to help clean up the air. She kindly donated a sage plant and another viney plant that I'm not sure the name of. The sage died within days of entering my home (which was a bummer because I was hoping to harvest some!), but I managed to keep the other plant alive, and it's still growing today, although I need to keep a closer eye on it as it seems to be drying up.

I've always liked the look of live indoor plants and would love to keep some around when I can. Aaron tells me of his mom and how she had loads of plants around their house growing up and he absolutely loved it. But she had a knack for growing things and was able to get some rare-blooming ones to flower for her. If nothing else though, I will attempt keeping green inside since it makes my husband happy and reminds him of his mother and the farm where he grew up.

Since those first two plants and my 50% success rate with them, I've tried a few others. Early this spring I planted a few basil seeds. I had potting soil, I had the seeds, and I had been gifted a cute mug from my sister-in-law and thought it looked perfect for a little plant pot. After starting the seeds and seeing nothing happen for days, I heard that basil was difficult to start. Oh well. Just my luck with herbs. The ones I tried growing the year before outdoors never amounted to anything either. But ... this basil did come up! I was rather excited to watch it grow. It made my kitchen so happy. Aaron would come home every day and exclaim at it too, which made me extra satisfied. I still have it sitting in that very spot and it has grown a good two feet tall, though now that the weather is cold and it's sitting in front of a very drafty window it's not looking as good. It is still sending out fresh sprigs, but I'm pretty sure it's root bound. I think I'm going to replant new seeds in there, or at least cut the current plant back so I can have a nice little fresh basil plant instead of a tall spindly one.

This summer I bought an ivy plant from a little greenhouse. I had always heard ivy will grow and grow anywhere, so I thought maybe this was my chance for another good piece of greenery! I had an old six-pane window frame atop my piano and figured it would be neat if I could get something to grow up the sides a little bit. Not sure what I did wrong, but that ivy didn't make it two weeks.

Knowing aloe is good for skin and burns, that was another plant on my wish list. I tried finding some at our local indoor plant store, but they didn't have any so that idea got shoved to the back burner. Then this fall we were out of town for a wedding and stayed at a family's place for the weekend, and the lady of the house asked if I needed any aloe plants, as she desperately needed to split hers. I told her I had been looking for some, and she gave me two to take home. I was rather excited because now I had not one, but two of them, and they didn't cost me any extra effort to find. Even following her advice on how to get them established, a week later they had shriveled down to nothing. That was during the time the air was so wet I'm sure you could've squeezed our house like a wet rag. Not sure if that has anything to do with the failure of my poor aloe, but I said goodbye to those plants.

But my favorite story of all I saved for last. My 2015 poinsettia. I was rather lazy in taking my Christmas decorations down last year, but I didn't feel like I had enjoyed them long enough. The season just seemed way too short! The poinsettia I had was still nice and red, so I figured I may as well not dump it just because Christmas had come and gone. The above picture was taken in April! It had dropped most of its green leaves, but the flower still looked decent. After hanging around that long, I figured I'd just see how long it would last.

Over the summer it still had a nice, almost full flower, but also really took off producing more green leaves. It started looking like a bush! By this time it was starting to look hopeful to make it to my goal of a year, so my new goal was to see it produce red leaves again, even though I didn't know how to care for it to get there. Every month that went by and it was still growing was an exciting milestone! This picture (above) was in September, after it had lived in my home nine months. 

The image on the left was a picture I took today. That's the same poinsettia. We made it to a year! The last two red leaves from last Christmas have dried up and are ready to fall off, BUT GUESS WHAT!? Just a couple days ago I noticed the first new red leaf! I certainly wasn't expecting it to happen this fast. I thought it needed a good dormant/dark season in order to bloom again. It looks like I might have a full, fresh looking poinsettia again this winter, as there are three places where new leaves are opening. I'm so excited; you have no idea. A poinsettia, in my house. I, the lady who can't seem to get things to grow indoors, has officially had a seasonal plant last a year. Wow. Oh, and the picture on the right is a fresh plant from this year for comparison. Think that one will hang around here, too? Either way, you can be sure I'll keep you posted on the growth of the original one. I can't wait to see more red leaves!

Household Hacks: Getting Wax Out of Fabric

I like the look of a tablecloth, but rarely take the time to actually put them to use. A few weeks ago however, I pulled one out in an effort to step up the class of our in-home anniversary dinner and provide a more romantic feel. I decided this was going to be one time I didn't mess up a tablecloth, and tried extra hard to be neat. It sure is difficult to pay attention to a piece of material on the table though (especially when you have such a hunk of a man sitting beside you!), and after the first scoop of lasagna ended up leaving some behind (I cringed), and then a forkful of my food didn't quite all make it into my mouth, I quickly abandoned the idea and relaxed for the remainder of the meal. But at the end of the evening when it came time to blow out the candles, I saw that one of them had just started dripping wax. Onto the tablecloth. Now that, I knew, wasn't the least bit washable. I figured I'd better at least check and see if there was any way possible to take the wax out after I scraped the majority off, because it was an automatic ruin if I stuck it in the washer as is. Google to the rescue! I tried the first suggestion I found. 

Here's what it said to do: Heat your iron to the warmest setting your fabric type can handle. Place a brown paper sack over the wax spot and iron over top of the sack. The grease from the wax will transfer onto the paper! Keep moving the sack until you don't see any grease when ironing. After that you can just plop it into the washing machine, launder as normal, and you're good to go!

So that's what I did. I examined the tablecloth after pulling it out of the dryer. I knew the wax was in the corner with the tag, so I figured it'd be a fairly easy find. After some searching I located a slightly darker spot and assumed that was where the candle had been. It was satisfactory. Not too noticeable in my opinion. This morning going through my before and after pictures I realized that darker spot didn't match up with where the wax had dripped, so I spent a few more minutes in detective mode and I still can't find the greasy wax spots. What I thought was leftover wax before I realized today was actually a lasagna stain. In my excitement to see if I could successfully remove candle wax residue, I forgot to use stain remover on the bits of food. Oops. 

I'd say this method works. Just don't forget about the other stains before sticking your material in the washer.

Whats for dinner tonight: I don't know yet. Going to be out of town with the husband later this afternoon.

'Tis the Season

While some are strongly against anything Christmas until Thanksgiving is over, others have been listening to carols while looking at their decorated tree for weeks now. I'm not the person to get ready for Christmas as soon as November hits, but I love the season so much I decided I needed to start decorating before Thanksgiving if I was going to get anything done in time to enjoy it. So I started decorating last week. I unloaded my stuff from last year and came up with a new way to use it, and also added some greenery in the form of a homemade wreath - something I had never done before! We have wild grape vines all over the place so it made a nice form to work with. I need to tweak it a bit if I get the chance as it's a bit droopy. I think I fastened the branches in only two or three spots with wire, otherwise it's just all intertwined with the vines. A quick homemade project, but I was able to get it all done while Adam was napping.

I had been wanting to make a popcorn garland since last year so I popped the corn last week in hopes of finding time to put one together. It needed to get stale so it didn't break when I tried threading it, so um, I guess six days was long enough, huh? I finally got time to sit down and work on it this afternoon. It will be going in the kitchen.

As a mom you can't say no to every possible mess when you have a toddler or child in your care. It could be losing opportunity for a good learning moment or great quality mom-child time. My soon-to-be 15 month old loves to be involved in whatever is going on at the moment. I decided against help with dishes this morning, but thought making popcorn garlands would be the perfect place for him to step in. The worst that would happen is I'd have to sweep the floor, which I'd have to do anyway. He loved being next to me munching away! It was almost lunch time anyway, so we had stale popcorn and leftover pumpkin pie for lunch. Adam did end up spilling half the bowl, but as I said, it was an easy clean up. 

And another task of the season ... collecting paper sacks! If I would get plastic grocery bags every time I went to the store, my bag drawer would be overflowing. It seems a waste when there aren't many practical ways to reuse them, other than as liners for the small trash cans around my house. So when I remember, which often happens to be a rainy day, I ask for paper. It makes for cheap but artsy wrapping material! In the two years we've been married I haven't bought any gift paper. If you'd like to add a little pinterest to your Christmas, you should start asking for paper, too. 

What's for dinner tonight: Upside Down Pizza Casserole

Earning Extra $ When Shopping Online This Week

This year seems to be so messed up with these Black Friday sales. Seems everyone's deals are starting on a different day! I do online shopping though, so maybe that makes a difference. Thankfully I had my list of wanted items written already and did enough research watching for sale announcements that I didn't miss the big item on the list! I guess looking on the bright side I don't have to race to my two websites early Friday morning.

I have been in the market for a carseat for Adam for awhile and decided if I didn't find one before now this would be a must for Black Friday sales. It's something I must have before baby #2 arrives! I decided if I had to pay for a brand spanking new seat I was going to get a good one, so after some reading and asking around decided Diono was my brand. There were a few things that were pretty important to me if I was paying that much for one:

- It had to be able to last the entire rest of Adam's carseat days and on to the next kid

- It had to come apart easily for simplified cleaning

- It needed to be narrow in case I ever need to fit three carseats in a row

Hearing from other moms and reading reviews, I found a couple that met all of these. I got a notification on Monday that the manufacturer had officially authorized the discounted sale of their seats, so I figured I'd better jump on and get mine before they were gone. Kohl's had already started their sale week and happened to have the lowest price for the cheapest one of the two I had narrowed my choices down on, and since I already like Kohl's and know they have great extra savings, I was happy to get it from them.  I'm glad to have found something I'm excited about and at what I believe to be the best deal out there this week. 30% off plus money back in two ways! 

Store Credit earned:     + 45.00 (You get $15 store credit for every $50 spent this week)

And cash back             +  13.16 (8% rebate back from Ebates.com)

Savings of $67 plus an additional $58.16 coming back my way. Yay!

How to Get Extra Rebates (From a variety of retailers) 

If you're an online shopper, you should check into Ebates. They give you a percentage of your purchase back in rebates! And not gift cards like most rebates; they actually mail you a check! Often it's not a huge amount (2-6%), but it does make a big difference and it's no extra effort on your part. I VERY RARELY make purchases from popular stores online but have received over $30 from Ebates. They do rebates for in-store shopping too, but I've never checked into it as I live in a small town with extremely limited options. In case you were wondering, I've been on Ebates for almost a year and still no junk mail, so it's safe! :) They offer rebates for tons of stores and the percentage you earn back varies by week and store. Their overall rebate percentage is up nice and high this week all the way until Cyber Monday, so you have time to benefit if you're planning a shopping spree. When you sign up, you'll get a $10 Walmart gift card sent to you. Here's the link to get started:

https://www.ebates.com/r/EMDPHO?eeid=28187

Note: This is a referral link.

Free Dinnerware

If you've gotten married in the past few years, chances are you've sat in a little room at Bed Bath and Beyond while a representative showed you dinnerware and other "must-haves" for a kitchen as you put together a gift registry. We did. And not only did we think all the choices they offered were ugly, but they were terribly expensive! We politely told them we weren't interested and continued on, unsure of where we'd be finding something satisfactory to our taste. Aaron liked Corelle and would've loved to have it in our home, hearing so many rave over the fact that it can be dropped so many times without breaking. That's what we had growing up, and he and I both have witnessed a number of plates and bowls shatter into a million pieces in our day. I looked into it and discovered even those prices were rather high for our almost-newlywed budget. So, I took the search to Craigslist. We had been planning on a blue and white country kitchen and of course were hoping to find dishes to match, and there happened to be a set for just that local to me. I sent Aaron the link to see if he liked it, and decided for the price it would work just fine. It was better than what we'd been finding and it was service for 24! Another thing we had wanted was a decent number of whatever we ended up with because we knew between company, both our large families, and hoping for a brood of kids ourselves one day, we'd need a few sets. The price tag? $50 for all of it (but worth closer to $200). I called the lady up and went to get them the next day.

Fast forward a few months. I was browsing a thrift store and what do I find but a box of Currier and Ives! I can't remember the exact price, but I believe it was around $5 for all of it, and in the collection were a few bowls that I needed more of. For just those pieces alone it was worth the money, so I walked out excited to have a few more soup bowls and also some replacements of the various plates and things that I already had. Then that summer my sister-in-law was at an estate sale nearby and found a whole bunch of these dishes and called me in case I was interested. Well, I was hoping to find a few more soup bowls (which are pretty rare, by the way) so I went over. The lady had run an antique store so she had quite a variety of china and other cool things. I found some of what I was after, but it was for sale in a rather large miscellaneous lot, for $20, and I became the owner of those, too.

By now I had spent $75 on all these dishes. But I knew I had more than just replacements that would sit in my basement until we broke a few and needed them. Some of them that I had found at the estate sale were rare collectible items so I could probably make some extra cash off them. I married an eBay guy, so how could I not try my own hand at it at some point in our married life?! Eventually I divided them up into smaller lots, listed them for a fairly decent price so I didn't have them around forever, and let them sit until I had buyers. Well a couple weeks ago I sold the last two lots and have officially come out ahead. Unfortunately I didn't keep good record of the first few items I sold, but the lot of collectibles alone covered all but $5 of my total expenses! My goal was to get my money back on the thrift store and estate sale purchases, and cover the cost of all the ones I have for personal use as well. Now I've done that and made a little bit more on the side! I'm quite happy to have free dinnerware and a few of the hard to find pieces in my cabinet as well. Now to find a few more soup-sized bowls to truly complete my set!


And that is the story of the china you've been seeing in my food photography.

Cooking for a Crowd

Once a month I'm in charge of providing a meal for 40 people. It's something I've been doing for about a year and a half now, and I'd like to share with you how I make it work on a budget.

Back in the beginning it was rather stressful when my weekend came up. I didn't have a big variety of recipes in my kitchen yet so I was always at a loss for what to make and lacked in creativity. As a married woman I had grown accustomed to cooking for two. It sure didn't take long to get out of the habit of big-family cooking that I had done so much of back home with 12 siblings! Not only that, but each time I decided on my meal plan for crowd-cooking I had to have prep in mind because I couldn't rope a sibling or two into helping peel potatoes or anything. Thankfully I have a very helpful husband and he always jumped in to save the day. But boy was it rough! We both rejoice at how far we've come in this area since then.

In those early days I did a lot of internet research trying to find ideas on how to cook for larger numbers, but I never seemed to come up with much. Especially in the department of recipes. It seemed like everyone was always suggesting things like pulled pork barbecue, sloppy joes, build-your-own pizzas, tacos, or for the extreme budgeter, hotdogs. All typical american meals. And if you try to add up the expenses for any of those it really does add up. Tell me why they suggest a meal that features almost just meat? Or something with lots of cheese? Have you ever priced all that? I know some of those suggestions are rather delicious, and some are certainly on my list of favorites, but it just wouldn't work for me feeding so many on a regular basis. If you highlight meat in a meal such as in pulled pork or sloppy joe, you should plan on 1/4lb. per person. Multiply that by 40 mouths to feed, and figure on regular store prices of somewhere close to $3 per pound for a pork roast or $4/lb for ground beef, and you've spent up to $40 on meat alone! Then you have to figure in your other ingredients, condiments, buns, and side dishes on top of that. If you're lucky or plan ahead, you might be able to catch a sale and cut the numbers down greatly, but it still leaves you with a pretty hefty receipt. All this to say I did make meatloaf once or twice and was able to do it quite cheaply. But it was the day I decided on the "easy deli sandwiches" that so many had been suggesting that I knew I needed to rethink how I planned crowd meals. It was a lesson that cost me at least $50 even while choosing sale options, and there wasn't very much food leftover that day at all.

Before I go on I must stress this point. Growing up I remember my dad always reminding us not to worry about cost when it comes to hosting or giving to other people. He encouraged us to do what it takes to make sure it's done right and nice. He was always more than willing to cut expenses in other areas in order to deliver a quality meal (and in plenty sufficient quantity!) to whatever event we were cooking for. My husband echoes the same advice, and I wholeheartedly agree. I can't say enough how important it is to be sure your guests are happy and don't feel like you've shorted them a well-rounded, nutritious, and delicious meal. You must do your part in making it as nice as possible. This does not mean you need to make it gourmet or spend an entire day slaving away over the stove. All it means is that in the end your goal is to deliver a meal or dish that makes your guests satisfied that you have put some thought and effort into whatever you're serving.

This is something that you can take to the budget book though. Just be cautious and plan well. You can still be frugal (not stingy; there is a difference) and make it work! Shop sales, and certainly feel free to cut cost whenever possible, as long as you're not sacrificing quality in the end product.

So, yesterday was my Sunday to feed everyone at church. The problem was, due to our extremely busy schedule since the beginning of the month, I forgot all about it until Saturday afternoon, even though I had it written on our calendar. That didn't give me much time to pull things together, so the meal was a bit more simple than I normally do.

The menu? Sausage and potato soup. It was what I had ingredients for and it could be put together pretty fast. My brother-in-law was out of town for a week, so we took over milking their cow while they were away, and as pay we got to bring home the milk! I had several gallons in my fridge still so this is what brought the decision for a milk-based soup. I needed a way to use it up anyhow, so it was a pretty easy decision. Often I hear people saying soup is a cheap way to feed people, but it really depends on what you're making. I don't find it to be all that much different in price than a casserole or something else. A good hearty, meaty, soup can break the bank just as well as a barbecue sandwich. Yeah, sure you can cut way down on meat in chili, but unless you're trying to go almost-vegetarian, anyone's favorite chili doesn't involve hide-and-seek-hamburger. And where vegetable soups might taste good, they are generally not very filling, which doesn't make for a good match when you're in charge of feeding a group of people and plan that for your main dish.

The ingredients that went into my potato soup were as follows: Smoked sausage (conveniently there was a truckload sale going on, and I was able to get a family pack [2.63 lbs] for $4.99...same price as 14 oz normally!), Carrots ($2 worth; I had them already), potatoes (homegrown), onions (homegrown), milk, and any spices and cornstarch. Having a garden sure cuts on cost, even though potatoes an onions are considered inexpensive. In all I spent less than $8 on the pot of soup, but if I would've had to buy the milk ($6) and veggies ($? haven't bought potatoes or onions in years), it would've more than doubled my cost. But even if you'd roughly guess the pot at just under $20, you've done well considering the fact that you are serving 40 people. But ... don't forget the sides! A simple pot of soup isn't quite enough to call it a decent meal. I made two double batches of hearty rustic bread to go along with the soup, and served it with some fresh, yellow grass-fed butter. Normally I try to aim for two side dishes with a meal when I'm cooking for others, but for some reason this week it didn't cross my mind. There was enough food though that I brought home enough leftover soup for two suppers and one of the loaves of bread didn't even get touched, so we brought that home, too.

I think I officially broke the record on least amount of expense going into my crowd meals. With the bread at less than $2.40 for both loaves, and the soup being under $8, my grand total was somewhere around $10.40 even with the butter. Looking back, I would add a few more potatoes to the soup. There were plenty of carrots, and every ladle-full was loaded with meat (extra points for that on my part!), but I could've used some more bulk with the potatoes. I did most of my prep Saturday night by cutting the vegetables and sausage and cooking until just tender, but didn't actually make it into soup until Sunday morning in my sister-in-laws kitchen. It's always more of a challenge cooking away from home. All in all though, it was very tasty. Sis-in-law made a dessert to go with the meal and she had plenty of leftovers too, so everybody must've gotten their fill.



Note: Generally I'm promoting nutrition, made-from-scratch, and healthy homegrown ingredients when I cook. I just want to clarify that I even though I used smoked sausage in this soup, I do not consider it a healthy food choice. 

When Couponing Pays You - How I Got Free Trash Bags AND Cash Back

Have you ever heard someone say it pays to coupon? That it saves you money? Well, using coupons in general doesn't necessarily, but being smart with them certainly does! I mean, spending $5 to save $1 doesn't save you a dollar, it costs you $4. But when the item was on your grocery list anyway, then you are saving money.

I don't normally clip coupons. I don't get my hands on many but when I do I find they are usually for items I don't use. But I have my own methods of saving and cutting cost. I feel like my "purchase" last night won them all. I'm so excited about it! 

I know I've mentioned the Ibotta rebate app before. That's what I use as my alternative to coupons. You can earn cash back on all sorts of staple items - food, grocery, household... you name it. Often they have food rebates that aren't brand specific, too. Currently one of their rebate options is $1 back on any size box of Hefty brand kitchen trash bags or large garbage bags. On top of that, they have a few bonuses running, including $1 back on any grocery item, and $5 back when you redeem one rebate! That's an option of getting $7 back, which is what I did. 

I live in a tiny town mostly made up of privately-owned stores, but we do have a Family Dollar, so that's where I went to find my goods. I needed trash bags anyway, and they had Hefty brand for $5, so I knew I'd at least get the box for free and a dollar back besides. Turns out I got a better deal than I went in for ... trash bags are considered grocery, so I got to use all three rebates, including the "$1 back on any grocery purchase", and after checking out I discovered they were on sale, so that put an extra .25 in my wallet. 

Here are the figures:

Trash bags $5.00 $4.75 on sale

                                 .29 tax

                             $5.04 total spent

                             +$1 redeeming Hefty rebate

                             +$1 redeeming Any Grocery Purchase rebate

                             +$5 redeeming Shopping Spree Bonus (when you redeem 1 rebate)

                             =$7 worth of rebates redeemed

                     So,    $7.00 in rebates

                            -   5.04 spent

                              $1.96 money earned in addition to getting the trash bags free!

Technically I saved even more than that because I had a few dollars on a gift card for Family Dollar that I needed to use up anyway, so I actually only spent $2.94, which is an additional savings of $2.10. But I realize most of the time nobody shops using free gift cards, so this was an extra bonus.

Some of these rebates still have a few days on them, so if you download the app you can get some freebies, too! I got to cash out some Ibotta earnings today and am heading over to Amazon to use my $20 gift card as soon as I get this post published. 

Want to give it a try? Check it out here: https://ibotta.com/r/meomgbc

Fall Beets and Borscht {recipe included}

I tried something new this week! 

I made borscht, the delicious soup that makes us all think of Russia and its surrounding countries.

Though it was three months ago that I canned my beets, I left a few in the ground that were way too tiny to even make a pickled beet from. Those itty bitty beets grew to be nice big ones and I got a mini fall harvest the other day. Mini harvest, like... four or five nice sized beets, which is too little to process, but perfect for a couple of meals fresh! 

Back in my husband's days living under his family's roof, they had a Russian family live in with them for awhile. This was their recipe, which I acquired in a collection of "Recipes from the Farm" as a wedding gift from hubby's sister. 

It is a bit time consuming to make and you have to start it early in the day, but let me tell you ... the flavor is so worth it. It tasted so much better than I was expecting. I admit I was nervous because it was new to me and well, I didn't have a single picture to go by, so I had no idea if I was doing it right. Maybe I wasn't, but I am happy with the results nonetheless. 

I can't just tell you about it. It's time I post a recipe for you all, so I will give you my version of Borscht. The original recipe made a much larger batch, so I cut it in half and did a "give or take" on the exact amounts, because I didn't use a measuring cup, so don't be afraid to eyeball it. I bet Russian housewives do the same thing. I also was very cautious on the spices the recipe called for and added a few of my own on top of that, including the garlic, which I found was a staple addition to most other borscht recipes I've seen.

Homemade Rustic Bread

Bread is something we go through a decent amount of each week. If you read my recent post "Weekly Cleaning Schedule", you may recall I had Tuesday as bread making day. Two loaves a week, and often it disappeared before the week was over. Well, we still go through that much. At least.

My husband jokes that it's a good thing the Bible says "Man shall not live on bread alone", otherwise he'd do it. It's a staple! Pair it with a hunk of cheese and a glass of milk and he is one happy camper. I mean, growing up his family made four loaves a day, but if they happened to taste it while it was still warm, it was gone so fast they had to make another batch that afternoon. 

When we go on a mini road trip, we like to have some sort of treat along. Often I'll make a snack, or something a bit more hearty if I know we'll be missing meal time while on the road. Last time though, we decided to stop by the Farmer's Market in my old home town and pick up a hunk of cheese from the yummy can't-say-enough-good-about-it cheese shop I used to work at. We decided on a favorite of both of ours, a dutch baby swiss from Europe, called Leerdammer. Seeing as it was lunch time and the market also happened to have an open-air artisan bread shop, we picked up a nice rustic brown loaf to complete a meal. That stuff was so good we decided I needed to step my bread baking up a notch. I had been wanting to attempt a nice hearty loaf for quite some time now (and have tried in years past but failed miserably), but of the dozens of recipes I've looked into, they've all seemed so time consuming and involved. Or at least, it was a big recipe for someone who doesn't like reading directions. But I knew it was time to try my hand at it for real. So I searched for recipes once again and this time came up with a couple that looked like the perfect place to start.

Multiple batches later....

I have made more loaves of bread in two weeks' time than I thought I would when I started, but am sure I haven't spent a minute more than I would've on my regular sandwich bread recipe! You see, the other stuff I made required multiple risings, kneading time, and a few extra ingredients. Compared to what I've been making recently? Flour, water, salt, yeast... no knead, one rise, bake. 

Okay, I have two recipes that I've been alternating between since beginning this experiment. They're both very similar except one is a quick loaf (which I generally only make when I realize there isn't enough for Aaron's lunch for the next day.), and the other I mix up in the evening and let it sit overnight (12-18 hours). We really like the slight sourdough flavor and chewy texture of the soaked recipe. Plus it's super forgiving. I can bake it when I get up in the morning, or run errands and wait until mid-day and it doesn't affect it any! It literally takes 5 minutes of my time, including clean up. I don't have to worry about over-risen bread or watching the clock for the next step. I am loving the flexibility it gives me! 

Oh, and me being the one who can't make something without (either accidentally or on purpose) altering at least one step, all the recipes I found had you bake in a covered cast-iron dutch oven, something I don't have, but I've been using my cast-iron skillet and it seems to work just fine. I steam the bread while it's baking so I get a nice chewy crust. It's so good, you guys. And so easy. 

I'm not afraid of rustic bread baking any more.

A Visit to the Library

After living here for two years, I finally made it to the library and got my library card! I'm not much of a book person, but I like libraries. They hold a wealth of information for the low cost of whatever time you have to spend. (Or happen to spend, for those who "accidentally" take a good deal of time inside poring over books.) It was kind of an exciting time for me. I used to be a frequent library-goer back home. And here now I have my very own library card once again! 

I think one reason I like them is because books are so expensive and good ones can be hard to find. I'd rather browse what's available locally for free than take a chance at something for a price tag. I almost never get the opportunity to read and it's not something I do for fun, either. But... I have a weakness. Children's books. From the good old classics for an avid school-aged reader to the cute, clean stories and wonderful illustrations inside the cover of something for the younger generation. I guess it's all a novelty. It brings back memories of my own childhood. So I can't help but get excited when I find something that reminds me of days gone by! 

Growing up, we had a decent collection of old Little Golden Books. There are so many of them that I recall looking at for hours on end. When I see the golden binding peeking out from its place on a bookshelf, I just have to see which one it is! All too often though, my eyes have been deceived and it's one of the new modern Disney stories. That's what I was expecting this morning. But instead, it was an old Richard Scarry ABC book. Just the fact that it held his old illustrations made me happy, even if I didn't recognize the cover. I flipped through the pages anyway, and it wasn't long before my trusty but rusty old memory pulled out some files that had long been forgotten!!! We did have this book growing up, and I had completely forgotten it ever existed. But the three pages below confirmed that yes, indeed, my little eyes have scanned this one before! I recognized so many details in each of the pictures. I can't tell you how excited I am. But it doesn't end here! Today I learned that this library has a little room of books that are for sale, and nothing is over 25 cents. Children's titles are only .10! THIS book was in that little room, so for the cost of a little ten-cent coin, I danced merrily back to my car with a treasure. 

Canning Applesauce

We tend to do things up big around here, and canning applesauce is no exception. Between my visionary brother-in-law and my efficiency-perfecter/handyman husband, we have quite the set up.
If you've ever tried processing apples by yourself, you know it's not a quick easy task. It seems to take forever to get enough apples prepared for 50 quarts of sauce, besides being boring when you're the only one doing it. So, why not gather a few families and make it together? Surely you've heard the old "many hands make light work" thing. In this case it was most definitely true.

Several years ago we gave the whole bulk applesauce deal a shot. With so many families needing such a large number processed, we were able to get together and purchase several bins of apples from a local orchard. Two things: bulk prices are cheaper (which means lower cost per quart if you're purchasing anyway), and quality is better and more time efficient than trying to use blemished wind-falls.

The two go-getter brothers have made a rather nice kitchen set up for the processing, including an apple chopping machine, a 10-burner gas stove (plus several more outdoor propane burners), a giant stainless steel food strainer, and two canning pans - the largest of which holds 70 quarts at a time!

Washing apples and removing stems outdoors.

This is my man. The genius fabricator that made the equipment. 

The 70 quart water-bath canner. 

The result of a day's work? 970 quarts done! 

Not our biggest year yet, but it was nice to be finished by mid-afternoon!

Satisfaction

I always aim to cut meal cost whenever possible, but in some areas we're not really willing to go for the lowest market price out there because that often means sacrificing quality (like in meat, for instance). Plus any discount (or not-nigh-priced) grocery store is 20 miles away, and I rarely get to town. So seeing numbers like this gives me such a big satisfaction:

Last night's meal cost us a whopping 60 cents or so, since the only cost into it was the carrots. Potatoes and onions were from our garden and the grass-fed roast was given to us.

We had some leftover meat and veggies, so that's on tonight's menu as well. It wasn't a huge amount, so I am adding to the meal with some acorn squash our landlord shared with us. Mmm. Cut those in half and add a pad of butter, some maple syrup, and a dash of cinnamon and bake it until it's nice and soft.... I can't wait! And the cost into this meal? About 27 cents between the butter and maple syrup. So the past two days' suppers have equaled less than a dollar! Eeeee! It makes me feel better since I've had to start implementing a weekly (or bi-weekly if I can get away with it) grocery store run recently.

Ahhh

The joys of having supper all ready and in the crockpot! 

Makes for a nice free afternoon and a beyond delicious meal waiting for you at suppertime.

Updating the Cleaning Schedule

Cleaning. Uggh. I would almost rather do anything than clean! It's just not my thing. Yet as a stay-at-home wife and mother, this is one of my job requirements. And as much as I don't like cleaning, I can't stand a messy house (and husband doesn't, either!), so there is a little bit of motivation for me to keep things in order.

This past spring there was a cleaning schedule floating around the internet that seemed to be every wife's new craze. I couldn't begin to count how many times I saw it posted, shared, and passed along between women folk. Maybe you saw it? It divided up household chores by the day where, for example, Monday was dusting day and you'd dust every room in the house. Tuesday was vacuum day and you'd get all the carpets. Then they had other bigger tasks divided up by week/month throughout the rest of the year. It seemed to help lots of busy moms get a schedule to their duties, but this list just wasn't for me. I don't like the feeling of never having a room done, so even if I do dust every room in the house at once, that doesn't give me a feeling that I've finished a task. It kind of seems half way to me. So I came up with my own schedule that targets a room at a time and it seems to work pretty well! Throughout the summer I mostly abandoned it as I couldn't guarantee when I'd be home or what canning needed to be done, so I just made sure I had things straightened up pretty well for our weekly Thursday company. Now that fall is here and I'm indoors a lot more, it was time to pull out the old list and adjust it where necessary to fit our current schedule. 

Our weekends can be pretty hectic with all we're involved with in our church group, plus any other random activities that pop up. Once a month I'm in charge of feeding 40 people lunch on Sunday, which equals a messy kitchen as I scramble around getting that ready (in addition to feeding and taking care of my own family's needs), and that means a messy kitchen to greet me on Monday morning. So Monday is kitchen day! This includes everything you would think of to straighten the room, like doing dishes, wiping down countertops, and sweeping floors. But I also like to add one extra task each time, which gives me a chance to target areas that tend to be forgotten. Extra jobs can be something like cleaning out the refrigerator or freezer, reorganizing a cupboard or two that has needed attention, or cleaning the stove. Yesterday I picked the top of my refrigerator as I had noticed it collected a few miscellaneous items that needed off my counters during canning season. It needed me worse than I thought, and I was pleased with how clean it all looked when I was finished. Short little me can easily forget the fact that dust collects up there, too. Those zinc canning lids I bought at a yard sale ended up getting stashed on the fridge, so I finally got around to washing them and replacing the regular canning jar lids on my spice/bulk food shelf with them. That got me to straightening up said shelf, which led me to give some attention to the cupboard shelf with all my other random baking items, which had been bothering me for some time. I spent more time in the kitchen than I would've had to, but it is such a good feeling to have all those areas tidy. If this was a busy week and I had other obligations for the day, then just the basic kitchen jobs would be enough. The amount of extra jobs you choose to do is entirely up to you depending on your schedule for that particular day. But this is not a free ticket to get out of things every week! Our goal here is a clean, welcoming home.

The other task for Monday that I have on the list is laundry, so I ran a load of husband's greasy work clothes that needed done. Because I do cloth diapers and they need washed every three days, I usually wait to launder everyday shirts, socks, and underwear for those days so I'm not running a half-full washer. 

Today is Tuesday and my duties for the day are bread baking and bathroom cleaning. It's also going to be diaper laundry day since the pail is full enough it needs done. Both diaper laundry and bread making can vary by a day or so depending on our needs and schedule; like those weeks when we blow through two loaves (bread, not diapers) and I need to make more before the weekend. Generally though, it gets held off until the beginning of the next week. 

Wednesday my attention turns toward our bedroom. This was one change I made when I brought out the list the other day. I had bedroom for Friday before and found that it never got done quite to satisfaction because of our unpredictable weekends. Besides the kitchen, this is the room that gets out of hand the quickest, so we really needed to set a day where we could enjoy it being cleaned up!

Thursday night we host people at our house for prayer, so I take care of the living and dining rooms this day. This was another recent adjustment I made. With a toddler around now it's easier doing it all the day of expected company rather than the day before, since it's almost guaranteed it won't stay nice and in shape for the next day. Because our living room rarely ever needs much more than a quick dusting or vacuuming (well, and the daily toy pick-up), it just made sense to do it and the dining room all at once.

And then there's Friday. We only have five main living areas in our house and two of them were done Thursday, so this day I call swing/catch-up day. Often this is my second diaper laundry day. Having Friday open gives me time to prepare for any weekend activities, to catch up on another room that might've gotten out of hand in the past few days, or to take care of other random things around the house. For some of you, this might be the day to tackle the office, garage, closets, laundry room, or some other area of your house. I realize most people have a bigger house to take care of than we do, so you'll probably have to adjust the list some to fit your needs!

The best part? I get the weekend off! Or at least, there aren't any obligations to clean or straighten. Saturday still means dishes and cooking, but I don't have specific rooms on the schedule to clean, since they were all taken care of earlier in the week. Like Friday, if there's something extra that needs done, this day is open for that. And I think everyone needs a break from the daunting task of cleaning, so Sunday is my day of rest. I usually don't even do dishes then, but I also don't normally cook Sundays, since we eat together at church every week.

Now that you've read all that you should've learned that cleaning isn't my strong point and this is what I try to do to keep our little house in order. But look! I made a nice chart!

Easy to Please

Sometimes it's the simple things that make me the most excited. 

Like finding this box of vintage birthday candles in a dresser we bought.

We Have Tomatoes!

This year has been rather different in the tomato area. I started my seeds several weeks earlier hoping that would make harvest time a good while before I could expect frost. Well, they didn't grow. I mean, I had seedlings pop up and they looked wonderful, but they didn't mature much past tiny little 2-3 inch sprouts. Weeks went by and they weren't amounting to much. I started a few more seeds of other varieties wondering if it had been too cold indoors for the first batch to thrive? They didn't do so swell, either. This was the first year I tried using starter potting soil and peat pots, and I decided I did not like it at all. (Last year I used Jiffy pellets and I had a 65/66 success rate with my tomato plants!) We made efforts to save them, and gave them extra care by getting a mini greenhouse for better warmth and sunlight. Although it was nice having them out of my dining room, they didn't thrive out there like I thought they would. Aaron thought it was a hopeless cause and was ready to throw them out, but I wasn't about to give up and just waste all that work. I mean, what if....? In the back of my mind though, I wondered if he was right. But I insisted we plant them anyway because we had the extra garden space. Maybe rain and real dirt would do them good! A week after transplanting our itty-bitties (the one tall, most hardy plant was scrawny, but stood 6-7 inches), we discovered most of them had withered and died. Oh well. We did try. I had enough stew tomatoes and pizza sauce left from last year that we'd be fine. But it was sad. 

Fast forward and add some rain, and something happened where it looked like a few of our plants might survive! They didn't take off, but they were definitely growing. We at least had recognizable plants and didn't have to search for green amongst the cages! It was a dry summer so we used a sprinkler in the evening, but nothing does a garden well quite like a good rain. After one such downpour, the tomatoes exploded. If you look at the picture above, I'd say you can take me literally! Only that was more because we didn't do a good job pruning or training them to stay in the cages. :/

My one wish was to have enough tomatoes to make a batch of ketchup, since that was the one product we didn't have enough of to supply us another year. 

Mid-September, the same time of year we were picking tomatoes last season, we brought in our first fruits! Obviously our plan to have some ready in August didn't work, but there has been much celebrating with every handful, bowl full, or 5-gallon bucket full we bring in! WE HAVE TOMATOES!!!!! I've been freezing them so I'd have enough for a decent batch of ketchup, that way I wouldn't have to make it twice since it's a bit more time consuming. We recently opened our last quart of 2015 ketchup, and today I process the delicious red fruit for this year's batch! 

We prayed for rain and asked God to give us a good harvest, and not only has He heard and answered, but he has given us so much more than we dreamed of. And the vines are still loaded. I can't tell you how excited and thankful I am. My wish has been granted. 

Now to do my part and get that ketchup made!

Grapes!

Grapes. This was my new experiment! We have a vine on our property that normally gives a handful or two of pitiful looking grapes. Over the weekend though, as I headed back from an evening walk to the garden, there husband and son sat happily munching. (It was absolutely adorable seeing Adam pull them off and stuff them into his mouth!) Aaron exclaimed at how the vines were loaded and it was a shame that they would have to go to waste. There were indeed a fair amount ripening, so I suggested grape juice. 

Something else had found the delicious fruit before us and left a scattering of skins behind, so we knew our chance to pick them was now. Grabbing a colander, I got as many as I could before dark. Often grapes are pretty buggy (at least ours are), so I had to do a fair amount of sorting when I got in the house. I'd say around 60% were good, useable grapes. 

My mom had made grape juice back home and let me tell you! That stuff was addicting. Every Sunday evening Dad would make popcorn, and that grape juice paired ever so perfectly! The recipe mom had was for filling half gallon jars, but being as there are only three of us in this household, we didn't need two quarts in one sitting. At least not now with how limited our grape production is. I had just over three cups salvaged, which was enough for three quart jars of juice. Three days that we will get to enjoy this delicious treat! 

Here's how I made it. Put one cup of grapes in each jar. Ideally you should have just over a cup per quart, but this is what I had. Add 2-3 Tbsp honey. (I accidentally added twice the amount per jar, as I was cutting the recipe in half but forgot during this step. The grapes weren't quite at their prime full-ripeness, so it probably needed a touch more sweetener, anyway.) If you wish to use sugar instead, add 1/4-1/2 cup per jar, depending on how sweet you think you'd prefer it. I like to be able to taste as much natural sweetness and flavor from the fruit as possible, so I normally try to aim a bit lower on the amount of sweetener added. Pour hot water into the jars until full, leaving a little bit of headspace. Process in a hot water bath canner for 10 minutes, let set for another 10 minutes before removing your jars, and done! (Note: if you used sugar and it hasn't completely dissolved at this point, simply tip the jar on its side.)

I can't wait to see how it turned out! I'll have to give you an update when we do open a jar to taste. That is, if I don't die from it's awesomeness. I'm counting on it being everything grape juice should.

Yard Sale Season

It's just about the end of yard sale season and I realized I haven't spent much time roaming sales this summer! I guess it's a good thing, even if I didn't find most of what I had on my wish list, because our pocketbook wasn't able to handle much extra spending. This last weekend I was able to stop by an estate sale down the road though! I had seen they had two extra-large stainless steel bowls there and was hoping to snag one. You don't have to have 10 kids to use one of those regularly. We were gifted a super-sized one as a wedding gift and I find I use it rather often. I wasn't able to get to the sale until after noon, so I wasn't sure there would be one left. Living in an Amish community, I knew there was no way I'd stand a chance if those buggies had made it over! 

It was my lucky day. One of them was still there! For $5, I knew I'd get my money's worth out of it. There were a few other smaller bowls tucked underneath it that weren't priced, so I asked the lady about them. She told me "Oh, those all go with the big one." So, for $5, I got not one, but FOUR bowls! The two are fairly small so I doubt I'll be using them frequently, but there was another big one in a size that I also use pretty often as well. I couldn't turn down the buy one, get three free deal on these! Throw in that box of 12 brand-new (antique) zinc canning caps for $1..... Ummm.... yes, that sale was worth my time. I was one happy lady coming home and showing off my purchases to the husband. And he was proud of me! So glad he supports my deal catching.

1st birthday

I can't believe it has been a year since this little guy entered the world. He has grown from a tiny little helpless babe to an independent, fun-loving toddler. He adores his daddy, loves to eat at any time of day, and enjoys playing with cars, trains and anything else with moving parts or wheels.

Just like dad, music seems to be second-nature to him. He's always bobbing up and down or tapping a foot when he hears a tune, and loves plunking on the piano. Such a boy, his other love is dirt. The garden, sand, driveway gravel... put him outside and it's pretty guaranteed he'll need a bath!

Vintage Camping

One thing my husband and I enjoy doing together is camping. There is nothing like getting out and enjoying God's amazing creation without modern distractions. Last year we had a pop-up camper that we used on a several-day trip with a bunch of friends, but it ended up pouring rain a night or two... and we discovered it leaked pretty bad. We had quite the night as we constantly woke looking for higher ground on the mattress. Later that summer we ended up selling it while it was still worth a little bit. Our dream was to find a vintage-style camper one day. Within the year, opportunity struck!

Tucked back on a side road in a neighboring town, there it was. A 1969 Franklin. It wasn't the most beautiful thing you've seen, but it had some potential, and we didn't have the wallet for one that was ready for use tomorrow. We knew we'd probably have to do some restoring to a fixer-upper. But with Frank's price tag and an eager, adventuresome couple, he captured our heart and became part of the family.

...yeah. It needed some help. Ugly cushions, big sloppy painting on the side wall. It looked more like an art project than a homey little camping space!

Normally we go on a camping trip every June, but with everyone's extra-busy schedules, it got cancelled until further notice. That gave us a little time to work on it! When the weather got nice enough this spring, my handy, experienced husband set to work getting the outside shell all nice, fixing any leakage, painting, and sealing the roof. Every now and then when it was a nice free day, he was out repairing.

Then the camping trip got rescheduled for August, and we realized we really needed to get to work if we wanted to use it. The inside walls needed torn out, wood replaced, insulation redone, everything repainted... as well as a number of other smaller projects that just added up to a lot of time! As we got to crunch time, he was given the last two weeks before the trip off work so we could get everything finished. It was a chore, and he worked SO hard from morning 'til night, but we made it. Everything was done two days before we were scheduled to leave! What a vacation we were planning on. Rest, sleep, relaxation....

Isn't it a beaut?!