More With Less

This morning, I needed to find a recipe for a bread to make to go along with a meal to take over to a young mom who has just had a baby. Time is short, as usual, so I needed something quick, but felt it was also important that it be a healthy bread. So I turned, as I have time and again for the past twenty-five years or so, to a beat-up little cookbook in my kitchen utility cart drawer. You know what I mean when I say it's pretty battered. It cost me so little but I have got more than I bargained for out of this small investment. In fact, it has lived up to its title in a way different than was the intent of its being named as it was. This cookbook may be in your kitchen, but if not, I strongly urge you to make sure that it is before too long. Trust me, it will be worth it. I thought about the folks who come to this blog and felt I should take a few minutes out of my day to do a quick post to talk about it, knowing if I don't do it now I'll forget all about it and will never get around to it. I am pretty sure you ladies are of the sort who would appreciate it. I have marks and food stains all over pages in this book, and ditto the sentiments of a quote I found on another website about it:

"As I turn the pages of my More-with-Less Cookbook, the spots and stains and drips and smears tell me the value of a particular recipe. I call it my “scratch and sniff” cookbook. If the page is full of markings (food or otherwise), the recipe is most likely a good one, a tried and true favorite!"
— MKB, Newton, Kan.

What is this cookbook all about? Coming from the Mennonites, it was published in 1976 and addresses the North American problem of "consuming more and more food made up of wasteful calories and unnecessary packaging." It's full of recipes and suggestions on better and more nutritional eating habits while consuming less. I like it that the author was making an offering of ways for us to live more simply and "joyfully" while being concerned about the needs of a hungry world. This is a subject close to my heart, and I only wish I were more diligent in being less wasteful and more concentrated in my efforts to feed myself and family in such a way as to leave more for the needy. I would like to think I was making more of a contribution at least, and this cookbook is a nice tool in my hand to do that. If nothing else, it could at least help me to save money, and maybe some of that which I saved could be sent off to help feed hungry children?

Think about it. Perhaps you have been wondering if there were more ways you could make a difference. Maybe a purchase of the More-With-Less Cookbook would be a start. Honestly, I don't think you'd be sorry if you did. You can purchase it here at Amazon. You can also read more about it's philosophy here.

Thanks, gotta run!

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!