Grinding your own Meat

This week in the news they have featured a young woman who contracted E-Coli from a hamburger patty. She is now paralyzed from the waist down. The meat in her hamburger had been ground from 3 different sources in the U.S. plus one source from Uraguay.
Of course her paralysis is a rare and extreme case, but people get sick each year from e-coli. It could be mild intestinal pain to life-threatening and in some cases death.

E-coli can be contacted thru many sources such as ground meat, eggs, berries, spinach. Basically anything that could have contact with animal waste or run off.

So, the reason for this post is (remember Susan's Food Grinder post)....You can actually grind your own ground meat at home. Find a cut of meat you like and do it your self. You can use a grinder like Susans or you can place the meat in small chunks in a food processor and pulse to grind it. For hamburger patties it is usually better if there is some fat on the meat. It helps hold together better.

You can purchase a less expensive cut of beef and grind it yourself. You will save money and feel better about knowing the ingredients in your ground meat.

Good*Will Color Codes

Here's a tip I just found out about this evening while visiting my local Good*Will store. You may know about this already, and if so just chalk it up as it always taking me a while to catch on!

This may not be an across-the-board policy, but I'm a city girl now and I know they do this at several stores here.

Get on with it already...you say!

Ok, fellow frugalites, here it is.

If you're a faithful shopper at GW, you probably are aware that they have a variety of different colored tagged items throughout the store. Each week they feature two colored tags at a discount. A sign is usually posted at the entrance. One color will be 50% off and another will be 30% off. They change these out every Sunday.

What I didn't know until tonight is that every Sunday GW bumps the previous week's 50% tag up to 75% (WOOHOO!). Then the previous 30% tag moves up to the 50% spot, and a new colored tag will be put into the 30% spot.

Here's a breakdown. Say this week the red tagged items will be 50% off and the green will be 30%. Next week the red goes to 75%, green up to 50% and then another color moves to the 30% slot.

I received this information from an employee. Our GW's don't openly advertise this, but the discount is definitely taken at the register.

The advantage is you'll know one week in advance what colored tag will be 75%, so you can plan your shopping accordingly.

Hope this helps and made sense! And it sure doesn't hurt to ask an employee about it at your local store.

{This may not apply to the collector and/or designer clothing section.}

God bless!

More Than Soft Skin

A little bit ago I made a frustrated post at my blog. The topic: Mosquitoes!! I went out back to hang something on the line and give water to the birds, nice pleasant chores in the day of a housewife. When I came inside from that short trip, however, I had multiple bites on my arms and legs. It was after I was inside that I remembered something that I keep forgetting about: Skin-So-Soft Bath Oil by Avon. I heard the claims that it is an excellent repellent, tried it, and it has worked for me. In summers past I used it religiously and had run out. Then, I started using an insect repellent spray, which I later found is not good for the health. So, a few weeks ago I found an Avon rep, a young lady who I know, and bought some Skin-So-Soft again and I try to remember to use it, and not only if I'm going outside. Well, today I forgot when taking that quick trip outside and I paid for it!

It's not a product that you would necessarily call inexpensive, but if you dilute it, it will last for ages. I got one of those little spray bottles and mix about one part SOS and two to three parts water. Then, you spray it on the arms and legs, and you're good to go. The 24 oz bottle of the oil will then last for ages. Be careful with your clothes, though--it is oil and can stain. I hold the spray over the sink and spray it on my hands, and then rub the exposed parts of the body with it and then wash my hands good. The best thing to do would be to use it right after showering. And you'll smell good in the bargain!

You may think this is funny (though I didn't). After rubbing my already bitten arms, legs and neck with the SOS mixture today, I went into the kitchen to have lunch. Don't you know that a mosquito landed right smack on my face and I killed her right there! There on my cheek was a smashed mosquito with blood. Yuck!

Believe me, folks, it's been my experience that usually they don't come near you. This one was a daredevil. lol

BELL PEPPER RELISH

Beautiful, fresh bell peppers from Mickey's garden.

BELL PEPPER RELISH

12 lg green peppers

12 lg red peppers (you see we had 1 red and 11 not so large purple)

2 C sugar

1 pt. boiling water

5 sm. onions, chopped

4 C vinegar

3 T salt

Wash and remove seeds from peppers, and chop or grind them in a food grinder. Pour boiling water over them and let stand 10 minutes. Drain and add finely chopped onions, vinegar, sugar and salt. Cook 20 minutes. Seal in jars while hot.

Grinding the peppers




Vinegar, salt, sugar & water

Fresh onions from Mickey's garden. It called for 5 small but this is what I counted out and used because of the wee size of the onions.

The finished product!!!

We ended up with these 5 canned pints plus another, almost full, pint that went directly into the frig for immediate use.

Very YUMMY and even though I had only 1 red pepper I was happy with the way the spots of red were mixed in so well in each pint jar.

GOOD FRUGAL EATING!!!!

Kroger Double Coupon Day

If you live in Texas or Louisiana check your local Kroger for the special coupon deal they are offering this Saturday, August 15th.
They are doubling manufacturer's coupons up to $1.00 for single items.
If it is a coupon that was printed at the store when you checked out, those will remain face value, but coupons from the Sunday paper that have a little 5 at the beginning of the number on the bottom will be doubled if they are a $1.00 and under. Potential Big Savings. Go thru your coupons and start making your list.

Care For Some Dessert with Those Enchiladas?

Wanting to take advantage of the bounty of summer, my sister, Reva and I, along with her husband, Rick, and my daughter, Grace, went to Rick's parents for some free cherries--we just had to do the picking.

Now, I'm not real good doing price breakdowns but I do know Free is definitely Frugal! The recipe was just one of those shoot from the hip and hope it tastes good recipes--and tasty it was.

These are our pictures from start to finish, all in a day--now that's fresh!

Reva showing us her pickin's

Why is it when both your hands are super sticky you get an itch?

OOPS! Even these cherries didn't get wasted.

Pitting

It was really good--especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top!

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We ended up filling five one-gallon buckets and, except for the dessert, froze the cherries to save for the holidays. (But we'll probably sneak in another Cherry Crisp before then, I'm sure!)

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The crumb topping was a thrown-together mixture of oatmeal, flour, sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon-sorry I don't have exact measurements. We sprinkled that on top and then dotted butter all over.

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Keep your eyes peeled as the fresh produce of the season begins ripening. Do you see apples or peaches hanging over a neighbor's fence? If it looks like they may be going to waste, it doesn't hurt to ask if you could take them to keep them from rotting in their yard. Bartering with someone for their garden-fresh produce is an option as well. Ya never know!

Enchiladas for a crowd

Sunday is going to be a big day at our house and I am going to have 19 for dinner. Feeding that many, especially in our smallish home, is going to be.....something!

I gave the honoree the choice of main menu item between Baked Ham, Beef Strogonoff & 3 Cheese Chicken Enchiladas and the enchiladas were selected. Since I needed to fixed 38 enchiladas (2 apiece for this main dish) I decided the only way was to prepare the actual enchiladas ahead of time and freeze them.

The recipe I had was for 10 Enchiliadas. Instead of making them all at once I decided the easiest and best way, for me, was to make 4 separate batches of the items.

The night before, I cooked 4 large split chicken breasts in the slow cooker. (I always remove the skin and fat ) First thing I did this morning was shred the chicken and place 2 cups in 4 separate baggies.

I needed 6 cups of both Jack & Cheddar Cheese, totalling 12 cups.....8 for the enchiladas themselves and 4 to be used to top them. So......the first thing I did was grate a cup of both and place in a baggie, ending up with 4 baggies containing 1 cup each of both Jack & Cheddar. Then I grated 2 cups of each and placed in a bag for the toppings to be added on Sunday. I didn't think to take pictures at the beginning but here is the awaiting topping bag.

After mixing the cheeses, chicken and chili sauce together I was ready to lay out my 10 tortillas, fill them, then roll each one.

Here I am putting together the final of the 4 batches which was for the remaining 8 Enchiladas. I am filling and rolling them.

Wrapping each in foil for the freezer.


Mickey was involved in this project every step of the way and here he is marking this last group of 8 with a G for green. I made 2 batches with red chili and 2 batches with green chili. We marked each batch as R or G and will cook each type together so our guests can have their choice and preference.

Here are the 38 in the freezer and this step of the job is done for today.

Sunday, after church, all I'll have to do is remove these and do the last and final step of adding the red or green chili to the bottom of the pan, placing the enchiladas in the pan, topping with the grated cheese and bake.

Now for the recipe:

Three Cheese Chicken Enchiladas

1 1/2 cups grated jack cheese (sometimes I use pepper jack)

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (we prefer sharp)

3 ounces cream cheese softened (you could use another cheese choice but cc makes

them really creamy & good!)

19 ounce can of red or green enchilada sauce

2 cups cooked shredded chicken

10 large flour tortillas

Combine 1 cup of jack cheese, 1 cup of cheddar cheese, cream cheese, 3/4 cup enchilada sauce, and chicken. Mix until well combined. Pour about 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce into a 9x13 pan and spread it around. Then place about 1/3 cup of filling into each tortilla shell. Roll up and place in pan. Pour remaining sauce on top and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until heated through.

If you like Mexican food you'll enjoy this recipe.

I hope you will all drop by Penless Writer next week when I'll post all about this occasion, the honoree and the guest list.

Check in tomorrow for another Mexican dish I will be making and serving.

Frugal note: Yes, I washed out each and every baggie and will reuse them!!

Frugal note: I have several pints of fat free chicken broth in the frig for future meals.