August 2015 Grocery Spending Journal

20-lb case of frozen green beans, I repackaged into gallon ziplocs

I have a budget of $185 per month now with groceries. I went over last month by $16.09. So, the remaining budget for this month is $168.91. Once again, I need to buy some "extras" to boost calories for one daughter. But we made progress last month, and I may not need to work so hard this month. She's doing great.

August 1. Fred Meyer for milk, on sale with coupon, 99 cents/half gallon, limit 6 (I bought all whole milk, some for yogurt, the rest for one daughter's drinking). Also I find 3 gallons 2% milk (the "regular" drinking milk for the family), at $2 each. Spent $11.94

The one really great thing, going into this month is that August is typically the month when I have abundance coming from the garden and orchard. We will likely have blackberries every day that we want, for the next 3 weeks. The early pears are days away from harvest. The garden is in full production right now, with tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash, leafy greens, beets, baby carrots, garden beans, and potatoes. Produces is expensive. But with the garden doing well, I can pretty much skip buying fresh produce this month (with the exception of an occasional watermelon or bunch of bananas). We also have a freezer full of meat, now.

Aug. 1 Cash & Carry for canned, peeled, whole tomatoes in the #10 cans, 3 cases of 6 at $14.82/case. Also another half-gallon of heavy whipping cream for $7.48. spent $51.94

Dollar Tree for 1 quart of soy milk, spent $1

Aug 4 Senior discount day at Fred Meyer, where I received 10% off of every item I purchased. I found 12 oz boxes of whole wheat spaghetti on clearance, for 87 cents each (bought 4), 3  26-oz containers of table salt for 48 cents each, a box of powdered milk that makes 10 qts, for $7.10 (I stir the milk powder into liquid milk to fortify my daughter's milk/boost calorie intake, otherwise fluid milk is cheaper for me), 2  12-oz bags of semi-sweet chocolate chips for $2.06 each (a splurge item), 4 1-lb packages of butter for $1.79 each (coupon, limit 4), 90 cents worth of sunflower seeds from bulk section, $1.26 worth of chopped dates from bulk section, $16.77 worth of whole almonds (3.12 lbs) from bulk section, large can of decaf round coffee for $6.29. spent $48.52

total spent for the month so far -- $113.40
gosh the money goes quickly! I realize that we didn't "need" the chocolate chips or the decaf coffee. Those are luxury items for us. The dried fruit and nuts/seeds are healthy, but also a bit of a luxury. I use these in making granola and fruit and nut snack bars.

Over the weekend, a facebook friend sent me a "friends and family" coupon/pass for Fred Meyer. This was good for 10% of house brand food items. Milk was already on sale, 99cents/ half-gallon, limit 6, which I intended to pick up, as I'm low on milk, so an extra 10% on that and anything else that looks lie a good buy. I only wish I had more cash for shopping!! Anyways, this is what I bought: 6 half-gallons whole milk (use to make yogurt and for one daughter's drinking milk), paid 89 cents each, also, found gallons of 2% milk marked down to $1.50/gallon. I bought 6 gallons (this will be rest of family's drinking milk, and I'll freeze most of it), I paid $1.35/gallon. Large cans of coffee (30 oz, about), on sale for $5.99. This is not a hugely great deal, and I had planned on buying a case at Cash & Carry's case lot sale this week or next for $5.49 per can (buying 6 cans). Well, Fred Meyer's price with my F & F discount came down to $5.39, and for a slightly larger can!!!. So, I bought 4 cans (that's all I really could afford, otherwise I would have bought 6 cans). I also found butterscotch baking chips (11 oz bags) on sale for $1.60. Regular chocolate chips are $2.29, so I thought I could mix the two when making choc. chip cookies, bringing down the cost of the baking chips in cookies. With the F & F discount, I paid $1.44 per bag (bought 4 bags). That's all I could afford with this extra discount, as I'm still wanting to buy whole wheat flour and frozen veggies on sale at Cash & Carry this week or next. I'll be going over again this month. Rats! It's discouraging, but I'll get everything under budget soon. Spent at Fred Meyer today -- $40.76

Aug 21. Cash & Carry -- so I had been debating with myself over the frozen vegetables on sale in 20 lb boxes, green beans, peas and corn. I wasn't sure if I could fit a whole case into our already stuffed freezers. But . . . if I take out a ham, repackage some meat, thaw some milk -- hey, it just might fit. When I got to C & C, I saw how small-ish the cases looked, and figured maybe I can fit a case of green beans *and* a case of peas into in the freezers, forgo the corn, and hope for another sale down the road. So, that's what I bought, 1 20 lb case, each of peas and green beans, at $13.97 each (69 cents/lb). I also picked up anther 1/2 gallon of heavy whipping cream ($7.48), a 1-lb bag of sesame seeds ($3.66 and a 50-lb sack of whole wheat flour ($12.99). Total spent, $52.07

Aug. 22. I know this will put me way over, but it's been on my list for a while. I was placing an order with Amazon, and didn't have enough for free shipping, so I went ahead and ordered my gelatin a few weeks earlier than I had planned, putting this cost into August's budget, and not September's. The cheapest way I've found to buy unflavored gelatin is in canisters. And Amazon's price is cheapest if I buy 2 canisters. As long as it stays dry, unflavored gelatin keeps indefinitely. So, laugh all you want, I now have about a 5 year supply of unflavored gelatin! I use it for chiffon pies (Pumpkin chiffon Pie, anyone?), sorbet, various mousses and Bavarians, and fruit "jello" made with homegrown fruit. I paid $21.93 for the 2 canisters, almost half what I pay when buying the little packets in a food service box.

Total spent for the month of August -- $228.16, over by $59.25, YIKES!

You'll notice what I didn't buy -- eggs, way too expensive, and meat, we have plenty of meat to get through the next few months.

what I did buy, this month:

dairy
12 half-gallons milk
9 gallons 2% milk
2 half-gallons heavy whipping cream
1 quart soy milk
4 lbs butter

pantry
18  #10 cans of canned tomatoes
4 12-oz boxes whole wheat spaghetti
3 26-oz canisters salt
large box of powdered milk
2 12-oz bags chocolate chips
4 11-oz bags butterscotch baking chips
2 cups sunflower seeds
1 lb sesame seeds
3.12 lbs whole almonds
2 cups chopped dates
large can decaf coffee
4 large cans coffee
50 lbs whole wheat flour
2 lbs of unflavored gelatin

fruits and veggies
20 lbs frozen peas
20 lbs frozen green beans

Cutting it just a little close

So, I made my new pj pants this week. Before I went to the fabric store, I got out my pattern and laid it out on the cutting board to see how much --er, how little fabric -- I would need/have to buy. I hate having all that leftover fabric, so I try to make as close a guess as I can. To make the best use of fabric, I would need to reverse the direction of either the front or the back of the pants. So, I looked for an all-over pattern whose direction could be reversed, no nap or one-direction design on the fabric.

I got to the cutting table, and debated over whether to get just an inch or two more. I went with my original measurements. I do think there is such a thing as being too cheap. And I think I was flirting with it that day that I bought the fabric.

On to cutting my fabric. I laid it all out, and wouldn't you know it, this was a very close call on the amount of fabric. The pattern just barely, barely fit on the fabric. I had to pin and re-pin a couple of times to get the pieces to fit. I should have gone with that extra inch. It would have made the cutting so much easier. In the end, I did get it all to fit, and got my fabric cut. But that was a squeaker!

I do like the way pattern instructions are written. Everything is broken down into steps. I could tell myself, "today, I'll cut the fabric and do Step 1." This makes the whole project feel much more doable, for me.


I have plenty of leftover scraps, just not at the ends. I am thinking, though, I've saved the scraps from several pairs of pj pants, all flannel, in varying colors. My kids are getting older. One of them could get married, start a family, hmmmm . . .  Not pushing, of course. But eventually, I'll be able to turn some of these nice, soft, flannel scraps into patchwork baby blankets. Like I said, not pushing or anything.

Here's how the pajama pants turned out.

I would love to say:

"It really, really helps to use the same pattern over and over. I've found that I can practically make these pants without the instructions. I have confidence in my ability to figure out this pattern, which is a big help in completing this project without a hitch!"

Not exactly how everything unfolded. But then, aren't hitches to be expected? But I persevered. An extra 30 minutes, unpicking a seam in the wrong place, and I was back on track. Not a bad project, though. Including cutting out the fabric and all sewing, this took me 2 afternoons. And I even had thread and elastic at home, so I was only out the cost of the flannel, which was on sale at Jo Ann's earlier this month.

And now all I have to say is,

Cold wintry nights? Bring it on!!!!

From my garden, August 2015

This has been a great month for garden produce for us. I haven't bought any fresh fruits or vegetables all month long. In fact, the only fruits and veggies I've bought this month were a little bit of dried fruit (for fruit and nut bars) and some canned and frozen veggies for fall and winter use.

But for our consumption in August, our garden and orchard (plus a few free bananas here and there) has provided all that we needed.

So, for the month of August, our garden provided:

• 2 heads of cabbage
• lots and lots of lettuce
• uncountable numbers of tomatoes
• over 50 pears
• about 30 quarts of blackberries (about half are frozen still)
• some summer squash and zucchini
• some Swiss chard
• some kale
• a few baby carrots
• lots of green, waxed and Romano beans
• many cucumbers, eaten as salads (I still need to make some pickles)
• just a couple of beets
• 2 meals of baby potatoes
• a second harvest of watercress (early spring is when the main harvest of watercress is ready)
• lots of herbs -- sage, oregano, thyme, basil and rosemary
• a few handfuls of blueberries at the beginning of the month
• about 10 red apples
• lots of rhubarb
• about 200 shallots

Our most prolific veggie has been tomatoes -- we've eaten fresh tomatoes just about every day of August, followed by pears  and blackberries (3 or 4 times per week, each).

I prefer to use the cabbage, fresh, in slaws, with our garden cabbage. It's very tender and delicious. I'll use market cabbage in fall in cooked dishes. In fact, while we have fresh produce from the garden, I prefer to use most of it, raw, in salads, as is, or lightly steamed. Fresh produce has enzymes, which are mostly destroyed by cooking. These enzymes help with digestion, in breaking down what's eaten. Plus, there's the vitamin C content in fresh, uncooked produce. This time of year, I don't buy traditional vitamin C foods, like oranges. But uncooked blackberries,  tomatoes,  cabbage and watercress are all good sources of vitamin C.

The peppers, eggplant and pumpkins/squash have still not produced anything pickable. One more month, so we'll see if I can get much of those veggies out of our garden.

I am making my plans for next spring's garden. Do you have any suggestions for other veggies I could plant, that have done especially well for you?

Cheap & Cheerful suppers for late August

Sunday's dinner -- no bun for me, but we had burgers (free) with lettuce, tomato,
sauteed summer squash and shallots,
blackberry-rhubarb sauce

Tuesday
*ham and kale quiche
*brown rice with herbs
*blackberry-rhubarb sauce
*marinated cucumbers

Wednesday
spaghetti and meatballs
*garden veggies -- Romano beans, waxed beans, yellow crookneck squash, fresh tomatoes, garlic
garlic bread

Thursday
rice and beans
corn tortillas and cheese, toasted
*tomato wedges
*cole slaw

Friday
homemade pizza
*tossed salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, black olives and toasted sunflower seeds

Saturday (a busy day for me, out of the house all afternoon, not retuning until 6:30PM, but still needing to make dinner --so as quick and easy as I could muster)
*fried corn tortillas, topped with refried beans, cheese and chopped tomato
*fresh pears
leftover cake

Sunday
hamburgers on buns (both given to us, as leftovers from an event my 2 daughters and I served at)
*with homegrown lettuce, tomato and dill green tomato relish
*sauteed garden yellow crookneck squash and shallots
*blackberry-rhubarb sauce

Monday
pork in tomato sauce over
brown rice
*cole slaw

Tuesday
burritos filled with homemade refried beans, leftover rice, leftover pork, cheese
*tomato wedges
*rhubarb jello with pear slices
*blackberry-plum pie

*indicates this part of the meal was made with produce from our garden

A lot of simple meals this past week. Vegetables were treated very simply, either sauteed or in a salad. Main dishes were quick and easy, with the exception of the spaghetti and meatballs.

The super cheap supper was on Sunday night. My family and I calculated that it cost about 20 cents for 5 of us. It will be hard to do a repeat of that though. But most of our suppers were in the $2 to $3 range, feeding 5 of us.

Embracing the coming of fall

Putting out a little something everyday to help ease the transition. It was significantly cooler today -- a hint of what's to come.

A fall welcome for the front door.

Pumpkins, gourds and greens for the table in the entry hall.

The harvest cloth for the kitchen table. It was a perfect afternoon for fresh baked bread.

Do you pay attention to warranties offered on products?

In recent weeks, I've made a couple of purchases that involved warranties. We think of warranties as being applicable to purchases of major household appliances or our cars. But many smaller items are also carrying warranties these days.

One was on my set of bedsheets. On the package, it's stated that these sheets have a 5-year warranty. I've not seen this on sheets before. Also, recently, I bought a stick vacuum, to use in place of a broom and dustpan for the hard floors of the house. (I know -- a broom is much more frugal, but my aging back doesn't like to bend over very much any longer, so this will make my work easier, which means the floors will actually get cleaned more often.) The stick vac that I bought has a 2-year warranty. Several years ago, at least 10 years ago, I bought a set of pillows that carry a lifetime-warranty. And a few years back, I bought LED lightbulbs which carry a 10-year warranty.

I save all of the warranty information, along with receipts to prove date of purchase and purchase price. But so far, I've not needed to use warranties on these non-major appliance purchases. So, what good are these warranties doing me, anyway?

Well, I think a product that offers a decent warranty (beyond 30 or 90 days) is more likely to be made better. Manufacturers don't want to put a warranty out there if they know their products are produced shabbily. It wouldn't be cost-effective, is my thought.

And it seems that I'm not the only one drawing this conclusion about quality of product attached to either a longer than usual warranty or in some cases, actually carrying a warranty when similar products don't. I've been researching water heater replacements. One article I read said to go for one with a 12-year lifespan/warranty, over the 6 or 9 year models. In a comparison of actual products, where their engineers took apart various water heaters and assessed the quality of materials as well as craftsmanship, the 12-year models were made of substantially higher-quality materials than the models warrantied for shorter time periods. That's a good reason, in my book, to go for the longer warranty. It's not that I think I'd need to use this warranty, though it's nice to have it in place. But I'd prefer to not deal with a failure on my water heater, for as long as possible.

With my new stick vac, for the class of appliance I bought (mid-range, not super cheap, not uber-expensive), it has a pretty long warranty. Other stick vacs that I looked at had a one-year warranty. Those short warranties tell me that the warranties basically cover "lemons" which fail pretty early. A longer warranty indicates that a certain level of craftsmanship, design and materials are maintained in production.

Sometimes, it isn't even the higher-priced versions of a product that carry the better warranty. In regards to the sheets I bought, these were the least expensive California King-sized sheets that Bed, Bath & Beyond carried. There were more expensive Cal King sheet sets in this store, that didn't have any sort of warranty.

And it isn't enough that a product carry a warranty. I also have to think, "how will I use a warranty on one of these less expensive products/small appliances?" With a major kitchen appliance or automobiles, we all know how to find the manufacturer's customer service departments. But with a set of sheets how will I access the customer service for these items?

The sheets that I bought were specifically made for sale through BB & B, so I would likely go through that store-front. If I didn't feel I had a readily available, access-point to the warranty, then that warranty might not mean much to me.

To be clear, I'm not talking about those additional purchases of extended warranties, sold on kitchen appliances and electronics. Those are often managed by a third party, and don't indicate any '"extra" quality in the product that you've bought. They just give you peace of mind, should your appliance breakdown prematurely. But I don't feel that these types of warranties imply any sort of product quality.

Anyway, these recent purchases have had me thinking about warranties on products that I never would have thought would carry a warranty. Today, a warranty on sheets. What's next? A warranty on socks? Wouldn't that be something, if a company introduced a pair of sports socks that were warrantied for 5 years, to not get holes in the toes or heels. I think I'd try a pair of those. One of my daughters wears panty hose, and she burns through each pair quickly. How about a pair of panty hose that carried a warranty for 1 year. I think she'd buy those.

Have you noticed?

The days are getting much shorter. And the sun is going behind the tress much earlier.

This always makes me feel to be in a rush. As if we were suddenly going to get fewer hours in each 24-hour period.

Maybe I'm in a rush to get in all that last bit of summer fun.

It seems like just a couple of weeks ago that summer still stretched way out in front of us. And now, in the stores, I see parents buying the school year's supplies. I see teachers buying their classroom accessories and decorations.

And it had seemed like there was lots of time for veggies to continue growing and setting more of their crops. But now, I'm wondering if we'll get much of some produce, if any at all.

So much just didn't get done this summer.

Oh well, there's always summer 2016.

Good thing I baked myself a cake, yesterday, to cheer me up! Cake is such a cheery food. And licking the bowl isn't bad, either! ;-)

Why I love keeping a veggie garden

As I was plodding in my garden the other day, I was thinking about all of the reasons that I love keeping it.

But first, all of the things that I don't love about the garden. I don't love getting dirt under my fingernails. I don't love the dirty hands-look or the feel of dirt on my skin. I don't love squishing slugs and picking cabbage worms off of the plants. I don't love bringing a head of cabbage into the kitchen, peeling back the outer leaves, only to have a dozen earwigs crawl out and totally freak me out. I don't love the feeling that I may lose the contents of my stomach, when I see this buggy, crawling exodus from my head of cabbage. I don't love the tedious jobs of gardening, like weeding, thinning, and tying up and staking plants. I don't love the disappointment when I thought I planted the second batch of beets in plenty of time, but the garden decided otherwise.

But what I do love is this:

• I love that all of our veggies are organically grown. No pesticides, no chemical residues, nothing that could be potentially harmful to our bodies. This is a biggie for me, as both my parents died far too young, from cancer. If something isn't doing well in my garden, I know that next season I need to add more compost to the soil, not douse it with more chemicals.
• I do love that our produce is very fresh, and hasn't lost nutrients sitting on a supermarket shelf for several days.
• I do love that having a veggie garden encourages us to eat far more veggies than if I was buying all of our produce. I was hungry the other afternoon, and instead of reaching for something starchy, salty or sweet, I went out to garden and cut a zucchini and picked a tomato. I chopped both and tossed in a small frying pan with some oil and garlic powder. With a few slivers of Parmesan, this became my afternoon snack. With sack lunches, I'm able to pack 2 or 3 servings of fruits and vegetables each day, for my family. If I had to buy all of my produce, I'd probably be just putting  one piece of fruit in each lunch. Today, my daughters will be having quiche made with kale and shallots, tomato wedges and rhubarb-blackberry sauce, in their lunches -- and all of the produce came from our yard. 
• I love that we save money, but you already knew that one, as this IS a frugal living blog.
• I love going out to the pumpkin patch and visiting my pumpkins. I have no idea where my obsession for pumpkin comes from, but going out to count my pumpkins is a daily ritual.
• And I am thrilled beyond words that this time of year, there is ALWAYS something to eat coming out of the garden. I sometimes think about how we could manage if our income suddenly went away. I brainstorm how we could enlarge the garden, what we could plant more of to keep us fed, and how we could make this a year-round garden. I can't control whether or not my husband stays employed. But I can control whether or not we have a veggie garden and orchard. I imagine, if need be, I could devote most of my day to getting the absolute most out of our garden, to keep us fed.

Yeah, sometimes I have to deal with creepy or disgusting things from the garden. And the work isn't all that fun. But when I think about the things that I do love about keeping my garden, I can see that the positives are outweighing the negatives, and so I keep on with the gardening.

How to Render Ham Fat to Save for Use in Cooking

At the very end of using a baked ham, I always have chunks and pieces of fat. Rather than throw these chunks out, I render the fat to use in cooking later.

Rendering fat is an old-fashioned method for preparing solid animal fat to use later by separating the fat from any other tissue in the fat. Lard, for example, is a rendered fat. The happy by-product of rendering pork fat is the cracklings, those small bits of crunchy, tasty roasted fat, which sometimes have a bit of meat in them.

When you render ham fat, those bits of fat, the cracklings (with maybe some meat), have a taste and texture similar to bacon bits. The rendered fat, itself, tastes like ham or bacon. I use it in cooking the same way I would use saved bacon fat.

To render fat:

In the process of using a baked ham, simply set aside all of the fatty bits and chunks that you don't want to consume in their current state. On both the shank and butt portions of ham, there can be a substantial swath of fat across part of the exterior. Go ahead and bake the ham with the fat on, scoring well to render fat while baking. Not all of the fat will render in such a large swath without severely overcooking your ham.

initial batch of fat dices rendering

With all of the leftover chunks of fat which you trimmed and saved, cut the pieces which appear to be only fat (no meat attached) into 1/4 to 1/2-inch dices. In just a few minutes of cooking, these very fatty pieces will give off enough rendered fat to thoroughly coat the remaining dices, allowing your main batch to render evenly.

• Place about 1/2 cup of fatty dices into a heavy-bottomed saucepan or dutch oven (depending on amount of ham fat to render, more fat = bigger pot).

• Heat over low, and allow fat to render slowly. Stir occasionally. On my gas stove top, I use a gas mark 2, out of 1 through 5.

cracklings removed to a sieve over a small bowl

• When there's a nice pool of rendered fat, and this first batch is done, use a slotted spoon to scoop the cracklings out of the pot and into a sieve, which is placed over a dish to catch drippings. 

• Add the remaining fat dices (again about 1/4 to 1/2-inch dice) to the rendered fat in the pot.  (I prefer to leave all my dices about 1/4-inch, as I just like the smaller "bits" to add to salads or to top soups.) 

• If you have any especially meaty bits, add those to the rendering about half-way through, to ensure that they don't burn. Continue to render the fat slowly, stirring from time to time.

some of the meatier dices I add about halfway through cooking main batch

• At the very end of cooking, remove the cracklings to a strainer/sieve or scoop into a piece of loosely woven cheesecloth. Use the back of a spoon to press out the fat into the dish below. Alternatively, put the cracklings into a cheesecloth spread over a dish, then squeeze out the liquified fat into the dish to save.

pressing the extra fat out of the cracklings to save for cooking

• The liquid fat is your rendered fat to be used in cooking, just like reserved bacon fat.

• The cracklings can be used in recipes for cornbread and egg salad, or to top soup, salad, and casseroles. Store cracklings in the fridge, or if not using within a day or two, freeze. Rendered fat for use in cooking can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for several months.

I used this batch of cracklings to top a bean and veggie soup --
tastes like bacon bits , Yum!

Rendering the fat from your ham is a way to make use of every last scrap. Hams are expensive; so why not make use of every last bit. Instead of tossing those chunks of fat, salvage them for cooking use. 


You'll find this post, and many others like it, a click away,  through this link (click) -- there's a compilation of my recipes, shopping lists, and menu plans that illustrates how I feed my family of 4 adults on $125 to $135 per month.

Cheap & Cheerful for the week

Sunday
pinto bean burger patties
*brown rice cooked in chicken stock with garden herbs
*yellow crookneck squash, sauteed in chicken fat with garlic
*tomato wedges with 1000 Island dressing (leftover tartar sauce combined with ketchup)
*fruit salad of blackberries, bananas and early pears

Monday
*rosemary-bean soup, with garden rosemary, beet greens, 2 bunches of shallots, garlic, new potatoes, ham stock (w/ bits of meat). This would have been nicer made with white beans, but pinto beans were what I had.
scratch cornbread, using bacon fat for most of fat in recipe, oil for the rest
*cucumber-dill salad
*blackberry-rhubarb sauce

Tuesday
baked ham (I needed to make room in the freezers, so pulled a ham out to thaw, late last week)
*garden green and waxed beans
*sauteed zucchini and crookneck squash
*tomato wedges
*leftover brown rice, cooked in chicken stock w/ garden herbs
toffee bars (made with half chocolate chips, half butterscotch chips which were on sale)

Wednesday
leftover ham on scratch biscuits (using up whey from straining yogurt, and pureed "skimmings" from making the yogurt)
*pears, apple and blackberries (blackberry picking in the afternoon)
*tossed salad with leafy greens (baby chard leaves, watercress, lettuce), cucumber, and tomatoes
toffee bars

Thursday
*ham fried rice, with veggies from garden (shallots, carrots, cabbage, zucchini, green beans)
*fresh blackberries
toffee bars

Friday
ham and gravy on scratch biscuits
*cole slaw
*fresh pears

Saturday
*rice and beans, topped with fresh, chopped tomatoes
*cole slaw
*fresh blackberries
toffee bars

Sunday
*hamburgers on homemade buns, with garden lettuce and tomatoes and homemade dill pickles
*sauteed zucchini and yellow crookneck squash

Monday
*garbanzo bean soup, with garden veggies (chard, carrots, shallots, green beans, tomatoes), topped with cracklings from rendering ham fat
homemade French bread with pesto
*blackberries with vanilla yogurt

* indicates part of meal was prepared with fruit or veggies from the garden/orchard or the wild (foraged)

Our kitchen fridge looks rather bare these days, especially the produce drawers. That's because, this time of year, we don't store our produce in the fridge. We store it in the garden!

I realize that keeping a garden isn't possible or desirable for a lot of folks. This is just something that I used to dream about when I was younger, the possibility of growing most of our produce. In actuality, we grow about half of our fruits and vegetables. With a family of five, I feel we would need a much larger yard to devote to growing all of our produce, given that our growing season is limited, and we are surrounded by tall evergreens. We definitely eat what is in season and local -- ha ha!

Digging my shallots

Shallots are from the onion family and to me taste like a cross between mild garlic and onion. Their mild enough that they can be used raw, minced in salad dressings. I particularly like them, as they fill a gap in my cooking staples. I typically find 50-lb sacks of onions on sale in late August or early September. My shallots begin maturing in mid to late July. So, with the shallots, I can have something onion-y for that 5 to 6 week period in summer, when I am often all out of purchased onions.

I've been digging these 1 or 2 clumps at a time, to add to recipes. My shallots give me a 5 or 6 fold increase. For every 1 shallot I plant, I get 5 or 6 in return. I planted these in early spring this year. Previously, I had planted them in October, per the instructions I was originally given with my initial purchase of the shallot bulbs. But this past fall was a difficult one for me, and many things I might do in "normal" years was put off. So, I didn't plant these until early in March. And as it turns out, these shallots seemed to gain in size better than fall-planted ones. I'll give it a shot again next year, and see if my results are the same.

These shallots are descendants from my initial purchase 19 years ago. I bought 1 dozen shallot bulbs, planted them out, and saved a few more each year. This spring, I planted 36 shallots. I estimate I will dig a total of about 180 to 200 shallots from this planting. I will save about 40-45 from this year's harvest, and plant in early spring. I will lose a couple over winter, so 40-45 should give me roughly what I had this past year.

Oh, and I found that shallots keep well in a paper bag in the fridge, over winter. I was using up the last of the shallots from last summer, in late spring this year. I had forgotten that bag was in the fridge, and was happy to find it when I ran out of purchased onions.

I've only begun digging them. I could just dig them all at once, but I was just out in the garden, gathering some veggies for dinner and quickly dug an extra few bunches. I'll dig the remaining shallots over the course of the next week or two.

My garlic is also almost ready to dig. Garlic is so cheap in the store, that the only reason I plant it every year is that one year, I had several purchased cloves of garlic that sprouted over winter, so I planted them out. And lo and behold, they grew into garlic bulbs. I've continued on for about 16 years with descendants from those first few cloves of garlic. These do not size up as well as the garlic I find at the produce stand, but for something that's free, I'm happy to do it, and have slightly smaller heads of garlic. I haven't dug any this year, so who knows, maybe these will also have sized up better than usual.

Another decent deal with a coupon

This has been my week for coupons!

In my post yesterday, I said I'm willing to pay more for a necessity than a want. There is something that's been a "need" for several years, and I've posted about it a couple of times -- our bedsheets.

The Cal King fitted bed sheet has been patched and patched for the last 3 years. I finally gave up on patching it sometime this past year, as it became uncomfortable to sleep on. Instead, I began using the flat, flannel sheet for that bed as the bottom sheet, tucking it back in on all sides, every morning, instead of a fitted sheet. Then using the still-good flat percale sheet for the top sheet.

Imagine how fine and dandy it's been sleeping on flannel in this hot, summer weather!!! Ha ha!

A month ago, I scouted out some sheets at Bed, Bath and Beyond, knowing that some time in August they'd be sending out coupons, as a back-to-school promotion, for university students going off to live in the dorms.

I got my coupon for 20% off and raced on over to BB&B, hoping they'd still have the color choice I wanted in a Cal. King sheet set. And yay! they did. Instead of paying $59.99 for a set, I paid $47.99. It's still a lot of money, but a necessity that I was willing to spend more for.

I had been going back and forth between buying a new bed (that was smaller, going for a Queen instead of this Cal King) and just buying new sheets. For now, it's a lot less expensive to buy a new sheet set, than a new mattress and box spring. And as frugal spinster pointed out, back in the comments in one of my "sheet dilemma" posts, I can always use these larger sheets on a smaller bed, by taking in the corners on the fitted sheet, to adjust the size. So, I'm not really wasting money, if in 2 years time we do downsize this bed to a Queen. I expect these sheets will last for another 8 years or so, at which time, maybe I'll be ready to make that decision to downsize beds.

Anyway, just thought I'd update you on the big sheet dilemma (because I know, "Enquiring minds want to know").

And if you are needing something from Bed, Bath & Beyond, you can get a 20% off coupon, for signing up for email offers. The coupon is good on one item. Also, check the glossy folder that your grocery ads come bundled in. That's where I found my 20% off coupon, in a bundle delivered a week and a half ago.

How do you assess what is a "deal" and what is not?

While in a second-hand shop in Poulsbo, I was thinking about this. What is a deal? Some of the criteria that came to mind were the following.

What's the margin between our income and our necessary expenditures.

What feels like a deal to me may sound like an extravagance to you, and vice versa, simply based on income and one's cost of living. If one's income is so pinched that there's nothing left after paying bills on the necessities of life, then spending even $5 on a non-essential will feel too extravagant. It's not a deal if buying it means you can't pay one of your bills.

Is this a "need" or is this a "want"? What would I be willing to pay for a similar item? And can I resell it for what I paid for it?

A needed item takes financial priority over a want. And depending on how desperate that need is, I could find myself willing to pay more than usual, and might still think it's a deal.

This, in itself, can be variable. If all my undies are tattered beyond repair, I'm going to be far more willing to spend money on that first pair of new undies, than on the sixth pair. (In fact, make that the first two pairs, so I can actually wash them.) The sixth pair can sort of fall into the "wants" category, rather than "need", as I know from experience that I can get by on just a few good pairs, doing laundry regularly. 

But I do think about it while shopping, "is this such a great deal? What am I willing to spend on similar items?" For the undies, I compared the price of pretty undies, to that of nice trouser socks, a few dollars, but not $10 or $11 each pair (the regular retail price on my favorite Maidenform undies). I have been replenishing my undie collection this spring and summer, one pair at a time, using Kohl's and Penney's $10 off coupons. I can get a pair for just a couple of dollars, with coupons. Same for nice quality trouser socks. 

I might not consider whether or not I could resell the undies or socks, but other clothing items, yes, I most definitely would consider resale value. Like that pj top I got at the thrift shop a couple of weeks ago. I spent 99 cents for it. And, yes, I could sell it at a garage sale for 99 cents. My daughters use the same criteria, when shopping for clothing. One daughter bought a cute, black knit tunic, to wear over leggings this fall. When she was considering her purchase of 99 cents, she said to me, "I could list this on facebook at school for more than this price and recoup my money".

For a decor piece for the house, I realize that decor falls under the "want" heading, nice to have, but I'm going to hold out for a really great deal before buying. I'm not as willing to part with my money for a "want".

I mostly shop at second-hand shops for decor pieces. I can find better quality, at a fraction of the price of a newly-crafted piece, by shopping second-hand. 

I have price points in my head, as for what I think is a deal on wall decor and knick-knacks. Basically $8 to $12 for a piece of wall art, if it's exactly how I want to use it (no new paint job, no new pane of glass, etc -- ready to hang). If I have to do anything to bring it up to my requirements for use, repairs or paint jobs, then that piece either needs to have collector's value, or needs to be close to free, $1 to $2. I have paid more, in the past, but at this point, we're not "needing" to cover as many walls as a few years ago. I can wait for that stellar deal to show up. 

Knick-knacks are harder to pinpoint my price on. I look for things that have resale value, are collectibles, but still in the "cheap" or "budget" categories. But I try to keep to the price that the exact same item might sell for on ebay. For the most part, any collectibles I buy, I find for under $10.

Knowing what items might sell for on ebay is key to getting a great deal, I've found. And it's so easy to check ebay for comparables, if you're willing to spend a few minutes looking things up. You no longer need to be a collector or dealer to know a good deal when you find it.

In Poulsbo, we browsed several second-hand shops. The one with the best prices, overall, was not on the main drag, but one street over. Even though they didn't all carry the exact same items, I knew the ebay prices for several key items that are always on my watch list, and could compare prices on similar items, between the stores. This made the main-street shops interesting to look through, but not at all tempting for purchases. I also discovered that Poulsbo shops had better prices, overall, than my favorite local vintage district, by doing a few of those price comparisons.

In practice

I had another one of those $10 off coupons to Kohl's this week. I had a few "needs" on my list, but couldn't find exactly what I was looking for. (No undies in my size, style, color and fabric this time, and no nice trouser socks for winter, yet.) 

So, not wanting this coupon to be wasted, I began searching the store for "wants". I was only interested in using this coupon if I found a stellar deal on something off my "wants" list. We're okay with the margin between our income and expenditures, right now. We're putting money into various saving's funds every month, so a "wants" purchase of a couple of dollars is within our budget.

After browsing the housewares, bath and bedding departments quite thoroughly, I headed over to the home decor aisles. Of course, I stopped at the clearance section first. I found a nice wall-mounted shelf that I liked, a wall-hung coat rack that was also nice, and then this -- a decorative mirror, with small shelf and a couple of small hooks (not for coats, but scarves and mittens would work).

This decor piece was originally $69.99. That's not even in my ballpark range of what I would spend on my wildest day, for this type of item. It's not an antique (or even vintage). It has no "collector's value". And it's not even solid wood (so it can only be refinished by painting). It's lovely, though, and just my style for the short wall, at the end of the hall, near the garage door. But not for $69.99.

It had been marked down numerous times, and now was priced at 80% off, for $13.99. Okay, that sounds better, and almost within my range for wall art/decor. But on an ordinary day, under ordinary circumstances, no I would not pay $13.99 for this. Not because it's not worth that price to somebody, but for me, I am able and willing to keep looking around. It's just a tad out of my range (by about $2) for a "want" of this sort. And that is key -- that I have time on my side for finding a piece for this particular spot in the house, so I am able and willing to keep looking.

However. . .

Remember that $10 off coupon? After the coupon was applied, my cost for this decor piece was $3.99. Forget that it was almost 95% off of the original price. But $3.99 fits in the margin between our income and our current necessary expenditures. 

I would actually pay a few dollars more for a similar item, up to about $12. I couldn't find anything comparable on ebay for this price. Shipping alone would eat up that $3.99. I did find one mirror that I felt was comparable in style and quality on ebay, and it was selling for about $30.00, plus shipping.

I could definitely resell it at a garage sale for at least what I paid for it. (Garage sales are overpriced, IMO, in our area. But people are willing to pay those higher prices.)

And while it's a want and not a need, it does fill a gap in decor for this particular wall. I had been thinking this wall could use a mirror, to reflect light in a dark passage, and as a last-minute "do I look okay" check.

I'm not likely to find anything comparable to this item, for less than this, at a garage sale, flea market, thrift shop or off craigslist. Anything I could find in a "free" pile would likely need paint and or repairs (costing a couple of dollars and my time). 

So, when I spied this mirror, it only took me seconds to figure that this, indeed, was a great deal.

How do you determine if something is a great deal or not?

Pear picking time, once again

Saturday evening, I went out to check the early pears. Not only had the pears gained in size over the week, but about half were almost ripe enough to eat right off the tree, the other half could be picked and stored in the fridge, until we are ready for them (then ripened on the counter for a couple of days).

Two pears had already fallen from the tree. It looked as if they'd been on the ground for about 2 days or so. I washed them, cut off the bad spots, and used in a fruit salad with dinner.

Sunday, late afternoon, my daughters and I picked the tree. I only had one pear so high up that I needed to use the pear picker. We call this model, "Pear Picker 3.0" It's an improvement over "Pear Picker 2000", in that no duct tape was needed (which was a good thing, as we are out of duct tape at the moment). I turn a portable, tall sprinkler upside down and stuck the spike-end into the bottom of a used coffee cup (from church). The coffee cup was secure on the spike and just the right size to hold 1 pear at a time, from the safety of a lower rung of the ladder.

Pear Picker 3.0 did the job. I was able to reach that highest pear, gently push up on the pear, break the stem and lower the Pear Picker (with pear in the cup) to safety! Only one pear was dropped in the entire harvest, which is an improvement for me. That pear is resting on the counter, ripening, and will be used in a smoothie or yogurt later this week.

We harvested over 50 pears from this tree, this year. That's enough to last the entire month of August, and maybe into September. I love these pears. They look so beautiful, have a soft skin, are super sweet, and are an early fruit.

What we packed for snacks, meals and drinks for our day-trip to Poulsbo

This was the view from the bench we chose, for our al fresco breakfast.
Nice, huh?

So, as I mentioned last Friday, my two daughters and I had an adventure day. We went to a small town, across the Puget Sound, called Poulsbo. Poulsbo is Norwegian in origin. It's fun, touristy, filled with all kinds of shops, galleries, restaurants, an aquarium, waterfront park often with free entertainment, nature walks on a boardwalk around Liberty Bay and some historical sights. It was a jam-packed day, and it really did feel like a vacation.

Purchased food on these trips can add up quickly, so we planned ahead and packed a cooler with snacks, beverages and lunch.

We have several individual-size thermoses. I filled mine with coffee from home, and my two daughters's thermoses with milk. These were our beverages with our breakfast. We bought pastries at the Norwegian bakery on Front Street, for our breakfast. No sense in buying coffee and milk, when I could bring some from home, and the thermoses kept everything appropriately hot or cold.

There are several nice benches that overlook the marina, at the waterfront park. We chose one in the sun, to warm us up in the chill of the early morning. This was our view from our waterfront dining location.

We left the cooler in the trunk of the car, parked in the free parking lot at the north end of town. At lunch, we went back up to the car (a short walk -- this IS a small town), and filled a daypack with the lunch items. We brought egg salad sandwiches, the second half of a can of Lay's Stax potato chips, some apple wedges, and a 1/2 gallon container of chilled water. The egg salad, I prepared the night before, but didn't make into sandwiches until the morning that we left, so the bread would not get soggy. I added watercress and lettuce from the garden to those sandwiches. The apple wedges were drizzled in a bit of lemon juice. It really doesn't take much lemon juice at all, to prevent browning on the cut apples. The potato chips were purchased earlier in the week, at Dollar Tree, for our picnic lunch at the park on Tuesday. We ate half the can then, and saved the other half for our day trip to Poulsbo. And the container of water was chilled overnight in the fridge, then packed in the cooler with ice packs in the morning. The water was perfectly chilled at lunchtime. We used a bit of the water to rinse out our thermoses from breakfast, into the bushes in the parking lot. Then each filled our thermoses with water for drinking at lunch and beyond.

Also for lunch, we purchased a large salad, to split between the 3 of us, for a fresh treat with our lunch.

A nice "spread" for our picnic lunch in the shade of the gazebo,
but still overlooking the water.

There's a large gazebo in the waterfront park, with a couple of picnic tables, well-sheltered from the heat of the sun. By 1 PM, it was toasty in the sun, so we found a table close to the water, but still in the shade.

While eating lunch, there was live entertainment at one end of the park. The SeaFair pirates were making a port o' call for the weekend and regaled the tourists at the park with their pirate songs.

I packed paper plates, plastic cutlery and napkins from home. I also packed plastic cups for the water, but we found it simpler to just fill our thermoses with water, and skip the cups.

We also had homemade gingerbread cookies with us, for snack time.

We had planned on dining out for dinner, but we were all still full by late afternoon. So we hit up an ice cream shop for cones for each of us, just after 6.

We spent an entire day in Poulsbo, only purchasing food items that we felt would enhance our experience -- the breakfast pastries, the salad at lunch, and the ice cream cones in the early evening. There are public drinking fountains, which we used to fill our thermoses. We took advantage of the free chilled water offered at the ice cream shop, when we got our cones. None of us really felt we missed out on anything by not buying beverages or full meals.

When members of our family take these little excursions, we find that the fun is really in the togetherness (and sometimes silliness -- see daughter in above photo), and not in eating meals in restaurants. The new-to-us atmosphere is often all we need for ambience. And who could ever argue with waterfront dining on a beautiful summer day?! Throw in a few singing pirates, and what's not to love?

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for early August

Thursday
hummus on homemade pita bread triangles
*Mediterranean cucumber-tomato-rice salad
*blackberry-rhubarb pie

Friday
*falafel
*pasta salad with pesto dressing
*Romano beans sauteed in bacon fat
carrot sticks
*leftover blackberry-rhubarb pie

Saturday
Spanish rice and black beans
*sauteed garden beans and summer squash in sausage fat
*homemade blackberry-cheesecake ice cream

Sunday
*open-faced burritos (the tortillas came out stiffer than usual), with refried beans, leftover Spanish rice, homemade yogurt, green onions, cilantro
oven-roasted, canned tomatoes
*leftover blackberry-cheesecake ice cream, with homemade "magic shell"

Monday
*chicken-pasta salad, with baked garlic chicken, tomatoes, cucumbers, leftover oven-roasted canned tomatoes, cooked green beans, garden carrot (first one!), Parmesan cheese, black olives and pasta
French bread
*blackberry cobbler topped with leftover blackberry ice cream

Tuesday
*leftovers soup -- basically I cleaned out the fridge and supplemented with garden veggies, combining leftover baked chicken, black beans, canned tomato juices, canned tomatoes, garden squash, waxed beans, Swiss chard, chili powder, cumin and garlic powder
French bread
*blackberry-rhubarb pie

Wednesday
barbequed pork sliders on homemade buns
*Romano beans sauteed in bacon fat
*fruit cup, using 1 ripe fig from garden (woo hoo -- a ripe fig!), free banana and some blackberries
*leftover blackberry pie*

Thursday
homemade pork and beans
brown rice, cooked in chicken stock
*oven-roasted root veggies (beets, shallots, new potatoes, carrots -- all from garden)
*fresh blackberries
chocolate-dipped frozen bananas

Friday
away in Poulsbo until after 8 PM, so when we walked in the door, we made pbj's. Not exciting, but it did the job!

Saturday
fried fish (cod fillets), with homemade tartar sauce
cheddar-bay biscuits
*green beans
*fresh blackberries


*indicates some items from each dish came from the garden

We've had fresh, wild blackberries with all but 3 of the last 17 dinners. That's a lot of blackberries!

I opened the very last #10 can of whole, peeled tomatoes last week, from my stock-up purchase last fall. I guessed the very amount that I needed for the year on the whole tomatoes. On the canned tomato paste, I overestimated how much we would use in one year by a full case (6 of the #10 cans). Whole, canned tomatoes went on sale this week at Cash & Carry, so I bought 3 cases, to get through 1 year. We really enjoy them oven-roasted. Probably one of the best canned veggie side dishes that I make.

At this point, almost all of our produce is coming from the garden or the wild. I am down to 1 lemon in the fridge, and a pound of corn in the freezer, some canned pumpkin and the canned tomato products, for purchased produce items. Not needing to buy fruits and veggies frees up a lot of our grocery money for stocking up on pantry items, right now.

More summer fun

Chocolate-covered, frozen bananas

I used the last of my recent batch of "magic shell" to cover some banana halves that I froze overnight. These were free bananas, from my son's office this week. Dipping really wasn't a practical option, so I used a rubber spatula to spread the "magic shell" over each banana. Yum!

Off on an adventure today! I'll catch up with you next week. Have a wonderful weekend!

Thrifty summer fun with my girls

One bottle of nail polish, 3 pairs of feet, some open-toed shoes, a bit of "girl talk",

and one afternoon of fun.

"Quickie" ketchup

This is "quickie" ketchup. I don't always get around to making ketchup with a recipe. When we had our homemade burgers the other day, and we realized that the ketchup jar was about empty, one daughters asked, "mom, can't you just make some "quickie" ketchup?"

Well, of course I could. It's what I've been doing for the past several months, in lieu of making a big batch of ketchup on the stove.

"Quickie" ketchup is canned tomato paste, sweet pickle juice, soy sauce and water to thin. That's it. It's all made to taste, primarily tomato paste, with just a couple of splashes of sweet pickle juice and soy sauce, then thinned to the right consistency with water. I don't cook it, but simply stir it all together. It keeps in the fridge for about 3 weeks, so I just make enough for a few meals at a time.

I love that it is mostly tomato paste (which counts towards veggie/fruit servings), and uses up some of the sweet pickle juice left at the bottom of the jars, when the pickles have been consumed.

Shopping school supplies for the home office and small Christmas gifts, as well

My two daughters have this week off from work. We're using the time to do a couple of fun things, but also to get some basic errands taken care of.

Yesterday, we went to Target for spiral-bound notebooks for both of them. While there, we bought some office supplies for home, and some small gifts to fill a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child.

Whether you're shopping at Staples, Target or the dollar store, this is an excellent time of year to buy not only the school supplies needed, but also to refill some office supplies and to buy some small gifts and stocking stuffers.

For all of this, I paid $10!! We got enough notebooks to get through all 3 quarters, and likely have a few left over for next year, 18 notebooks in total. And those notebooks were just 17 cents each at Target this week. We were trying to see if we could spend $25 on school supplies. Target's current deal is spend $25 on school supplies and get a $5 Target gift card. Well, we couldn't find enough items to stretch much beyond $10, let alone $25.

If you have young children in your life, you can purchase a couple of these well-priced items for a very small amount of money, and put together a fun little gift. The crayons were 40 cents, the markers were 74 cents, a package of glue sticks was 30 cents, and the package of 2 mini-notebooks was just 50 cents. Watercolor paints are also a nice little gift, combined with a pad of paper. All of these would make nice stocking stuffers, as well.


While out and about, we were passing Five Guys. I suggested we have hamburgers for lunch. One daughter exclaimed, "are we going to Five Guys?" I said "no, but I have burger patties and buns in the freezer at home. And we have homemade dill pickles, plus lettuce and tomatoes in the garden." I estimated that we spent $2 on our burgers, yesterday. We couldn't buy even one burger at Five Guys for that price, and I think ours tasted much fresher, too!

We came home, quickly put together our lunch, and enjoyed the quiet of our own backyard.

Homemade "magic shell" ice cream topping (and dipping chocolate for fruits, candies and cookies)

This is not an item that you can use straight out of the pantry, but requires some microwaving. However, sometimes the convenience of a pantry item comes at a cost. Compare the ingredients' list for the commercial product vs. a homemade substitute.

Self-hardening chocolate ice cream topping

The commercial product's ingredient list:

Sugar, Sunflower oil, Coconut oil, Cocoa, Chocolate, Contains 2% or less of: cocoa processed with alkali, soy lecithin, milk, salt, vanilla.


My homemade version:

Chocolate Chips
Crisco-type Shortening, or Coconut oil


A little background for how I came to making my own dipping chocolate, for making chocolates, dipped strawberries, dipped brownie bites and cookies and for use as a homemade "magic shell".

I had a great aunt who was a part-time chocolatier. She sold her hand-dipped chocolates every November, to raise money to bring her son home from university on the east coast.

My great aunt was a widow, while still raising 3 children. Her son was accepted to a very good school on the east coast, with a scholarship to cover his tuition, supplies and housing. But there was little additional money for my great aunt to bring him home over the holidays, each winter. She had always been a fantastic home-baker. And her hand-dipped chocolates were well-known in their small community in Utah. If you were lucky enough to receive a box of her chocolates at Christmas, you considered yourself very fortunate. In the summer before her son went away to university, my great aunt's circle of friends suggested she take orders for her chocolates, to be delivered in November. She followed their advice. Every year, she was able to raise enough money for train fare home from Connecticut, as well as to buy gifts for the rest of her family.

When she was in her nineties it became important to her to pass down her recipes and method, to interested family members. She invited her grandchildren and a few cousins to come and learn. One of my second-cousins now makes her chocolates every Christmas, to honor her memory. As I always enjoyed baking and candy-making, I was sure to show up on her doorstep for "lessons",

She, of course, used a confectioner's grade of chocolate, called couverture. Couverture is a very high grade of dipping chocolate with at least 32% (and as much as 39%) cocoa butter. It's an extremely creamy, silky, delicious chocolate that has that perfect "snap" when broken or bit into. You can buy it both tempered and untempered. (Tempered will simplify candy-dipping.) My great aunt drove an a hour round trip to buy her chocolate, each fall.

When I asked about grocery store ingredients that I could more readily buy, she suggested the bars of chocolate sold in the baking section. Those chocolate bars have more cocoa butter than chocolate chips.

Although my great aunt's instructions were for using a tempered chocolate, for dipping hand-formed centers, I have found that I can make a respectable product, using a straight-forward melting with a fat addition.

And she used the double boiler for her chocolates. But for homemade confections, to be consumed fairly quickly, I've found the microwave to be a real time-saver.

Chocolate chips will work and make a perfectly acceptable product that you're just going to spoon over ice cream or dip strawberries into, and eat immediately.

If using chocolate bars or chocolate chips, you will need to add a fat to create a dipping consistency. (In the old days, housewives used food-grade paraffin wax -- even though it was "food grade", it's not recommended now, as it's indigestible to the human body.)

So, the extra fat my great aunt recommended, if I was going to use a grocery store bar of chocolate, was Crisco shortening. She said not use butter or margarine, when melting chocolate, as those two can contain enough water to cause your melted chocolate to seize. And using a liquid oil can result in a chocolate that doesn't harden as well. (However, liquid oil is useful to rescue slightly overheated chocolate.)

In recent years, it has become trendy to use coconut oil. It's a saturated fat, and below about 76 degrees F, it remains solid. So, coconut oil is also a good choice for making dipping chocolate at home. (Crisco, by the way, doesn't melt until about 117 degrees F.)

I choose to use Crisco, as I always have a can of it in the pantry for pie pastry, it is flavorless, and it works very well for making dipping chocolate.

How I make "magic shell", enough for about 4-6 bowls of ice cream (any leftovers can be used to dip fruit, brownie bites, edges of cookies/biscotti, or saved, in a sealed container, and reused at a later date)

you'll need:

4 ounces chocolate chips -- roughly 2/3 cup (semi-sweet). Do not use "chocolate-flavored" baking chips. They don't seem to melt as well, perhaps less or no cocoa butter. The better quality chocolate you use, the smoother your chocolate dip will be.

Milk chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, mint chips, vanilla chips or butterscotch chips may also be used, but they have a higher sugar content and therefore scorch more readily. To avoid scorching, use 1 tablespoon of fat per 4 ounces of chips, and microwave only on 20 to 30% power. After the first 2 melting intervals, reduce microwave time to 20 seconds, each. Much care needs to be taken with these other chips, to melt slowly in the microwave.

2 teaspoons crisco-type shortening, *or*  1  1/2 teaspoons coconut oil (for "magic shell" our family likes an additional 1 teaspoon of crisco, stirred in at the end of melting, for a thinner and slightly softer chocolate coating. But for dipping cookies, brownie bites, peanut butter centers, fudge, fondant centers or strawberries, the straight 2 teaspoons crisco for every 4 ounces of chocolate is what is recommended for a firm, crisp coating.)

• Melting chocolate slowly will give you the smoothest dipping chocolate. It could take 3 minutes or so, depending on quantity.

• It's important to melt chocolate slowly and evenly. If using a bar or chunk of chocolate, break it into 1/2-inch or smaller pieces. 
• A glass container will absorb the heat from the chocolate, and keep the chocolate stable.
• In an absolutely bone dry, microwaveable, glass container, place the chocolate chips or chunks, and fat. Melt in the microwave on the LOW to MED (30 to 50% power, or DEFROST) setting for 30 seconds. This first melting will basically just melt or partially melt the fat, and not the chocolate. Remove and stir the fat into the chips/chunks. 
• Microwave again, on LOW (about 20 to 30% power), for 30 seconds, then stir. Repeat this about 3 more times (or until the chocolate is almost melted). Stir between each melting, scraping down sides.
• Chocolate pieces that are indeed melted can retain their original shape. You will only know if the chocolate is not quite melted by finding lumps which do not stir out.
• When the product is near-completely melted (but not all the way), remove from the microwave and stir for about 30 seconds. This final stirring will incorporate any small amounts of semi-solid chocolate. 
• If you would like a thinner stream of melted chocolate and softer consistency, stir in an additional 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of Crisco (this is better for ice cream topping, than for dipping candies, strawberries or cookies, as it is slightly softer).
• Microwave at full power for about 8-9 final seconds. Stir. 
• Drizzle immediately over bowls of ice cream. It will firm up in about 30-60 seconds, depending on thickness. 

• Reduce or increase the quantity of both ingredients, as needed to make more or less, but keep the proportions of chocolate to fat. 
• Also, if you reduce the amount being made at any one time, remember that it will melt much more quickly than a larger amount.
• Melting chocolate is not the same as tempering chocolate, but works fine enough for homemade confections.
• Without tempering the chocolate, your final product is susceptible to fat bloom (the powdery white film that develops on chocolate, over time). Fat bloom takes a few days to appear, so this dipping chocolate is best for items that will be consumed soon. 

when the chocolate coating has a matte finish, it has hardened
(homemade blackberry-cheesecake ice cream underneath,
want to make blackberry sorbet later this week)

• Leftovers can be saved and reused. Melt at full power in 10 to 12 second bursts, stirring well, in between, scraping down sides of container. Do this a coupe of times, until thin and drizzle-able.

For a really gourmet, chocolate-aficionado treat, use bar chocolate, sold in the baking section of the grocery store. These chocolate bars have a higher concentration of cocoa butter than chocolate chips and melt more smoothly and are creamier in taste and texture.

Price comparison

So, using chocolate chips, bought on sale for $1.99/12 oz package (66 cents for 4 oz), and 2 teaspoons of shortening (estimate at less than 5 cents), 4 ounces of homemade "magic shell" costs about 70 cents. The name brand of self-hardening, chocolate ice cream coating sells for $2.00 for 7.25 oz., costing about $1.10 for 4 ounces. Hmmm, what would I rather eat, the less expensive, mostly chocolate version (the homemade one), or the more expensive, but less chocolate tasting, store-bought version?



An FYI about Crisco and other solid vegetable shortenings -- if you feel like your pie pastry is different than it used to be (10 to 15 years ago), but you are still following the exact same recipe, Crisco reformulated their product a few years back, as new information became available about trans fats. They wanted to be able to claim 0 g trans fats per serving (1 tablespoon), which actually means it has less than .5 g per serving (products can have up to .5 g per serving and still claim 0 g, rounding down). They changed their formula, and so this could explain why your pie pastry just doesn't seem the same as it once did. Other manufacturers of solid vegetable shortening wanted to follow suit, so it doesn't matter if you're using Crisco brand or a store brand. (information from livestrong.com)