Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for the last week of October

This supper (Wednesday) wins the prize,
 for tastiest dinner of the week -- full of flavor!

Friday
rice and bean burritos in homemade flour tortillas
*kale sauteed in bacon fat
* fresh pears and figs, with a melted jelly "dressing"
scratch chocolate pudding

Saturday
*oven-roasted purple and white potatoes
*pickled beets
*tomato wedges
bread and butter
pumpkin soup
gingerbread cookies

Sunday
pumpkin pie
milk
peanut butter sandwiches for anyone still hungry

Monday
roasted acorn squash
corn souffle
sausage
*sauteed kale in bacon fat

Tuesday
*turkey and dumplings (with leftover rice, leftover refried beans, garden chard, beet greens, onion, and purchased carrots, peas and green beans)
pumpkin bread

Wednesday (hodgepodge night)
rice and black beans (had to use up some leftover rice)
deviled eggs
oven-roasted carrots
mustard-glazed onions
*fresh pears
*fresh tomatoes

Thursday
black bean burger patties
*oven-roasted purple and white potatoes
*fresh tomatoes
*cole slaw
*blackberry-rhubarb crisp
^^^ too ambitious & too much work for this day, around noon, changed to:
*homemade pizza, with olives, sliced onions, frozen green pepper
*frozen applesauce

*indicates this meal item came from the garden/orchard, or was foraged


Do you know what the definition of hodgepodge is? A disorderly mixture. That's what Wednesday night's supper felt like to me. I was just trying to use as much of our garden produce as I could, followed by the most cheaply obtained foods (carrots, onions, rice, beans), and a few eggs for protein.

As you can see on the menu, there are far fewer asterisks next to meal items, meaning I am getting less and less from our garden. The upside to that, though, is without having to clean garden produce, making meals is a little bit quicker. I always appreciate that aspect of the garden coming to a close, and turning to frozen veggies or store-bought carrots and onions. Scrubbing garden produce is not one of my favorite chores. I think we wind up eating a fair amount of dirt (simply because I tire of scrubbing carrots or potatoes), and more than a few bugs (as picking them out of fruit and veggies takes time).

I am down to about a 10-day supply of fresh tomatoes. Sadly, they'll be gone after that. But then we get to eat oven-roasted canned whole tomatoes, again! We could get a frost early next week, with overnight lows for my area, now forecasted for about 39 degrees F, for Tuesday/Wednesday. So, later today, I'll put the plastic tunnel row cover over part of the garden. Hopefully this will "hold" the cabbage, kale, chard, mustard and radish greens, for another month.

What was on your menu this last week?

What buying eggs at a wholesaler looks like

My usual day to hit up Cash & Carry for their twice-monthly specials is Friday. However, this week, I really wanted one particular item. It wasn't in their Hot Sheet, or other weekly specials. every Monday, when I check the Hot Sheet online, I also do a "search" on a couple of items on which I'm watching the price, lately milk, canned pumpkin, and eggs. This week, until Nov. 1, the 15 dozen case of eggs are price-reduced to $26.95, or about $1.79 per dozen.

After seeing this price reduction, I immediately went to the USDA egg report for the week. (Yes, a super-geek like me reads the USDA egg report.) Wholesale egg prices in the US have steadily dropped since their high in August. If the bird flu turns out to be a non-issue this fall and winter, then we can expect egg prices, retail, to follow this drop in price. However, historically, egg prices climb again towards the first of the year, peaking in December/January. That doesn't mean we can't see loss-leader sales on eggs nearer the holidays. that can certainly still happen, but will likely have "limits" imposed.

So, at $1.79 per dozen, I am wanting to stock up on enough eggs, as I can, to tide us through the holidays, and at least util February, possibly into March. Easter in 2016 is March 27. The week before Easter, eggs are often a loss-leader at a few of my local stores, this last year at Walgreen's and Target. If I can buy and freeze eggs now, while the price is low,\ for me, I can avoid having to buy eggs at peak prices later.

That was my thought process earlier this week. I have noticed that I am not the only shopper at Cash & Carry watching prices closely, this fall. I have missed a couple of really good deals because I went too late in the week (and they don't do rain checks). With this knowledge, I got everything together to do my shopping there a couple of days earlier -- Wednesday morning, instead of Friday.

As is my usual practice when there is a great deal on an item in a store, that I want to make sure I get, I made a beeline to the dairy walk-in. Sure enough, 1 case of these eggs left.  Glad I went on Wednesday.

A case of 15 dozen eggs is often called "loose pack". Contrary to how that sounds, that doesn't mean that a bunch of eggs are loose, rolling around in the bottom of a cardboard box. Eggs are place in egg trays, 2  1/2 dozen per layer (like when you buy a 5-dozen pack of eggs at the supermarket), 6 layers deeps in a cardboard box way too big to fit on any of my refrigerator shelves.

To handle all of these eggs, I get out my supply of used egg cartons.

And begin transferring eggs to cartons, one at a time. I mark the sell-by date on one of these cartons, as I'll be disposing of the large box when I'm done, here.

The sell-by date on these eggs is Nov. 5. However, the USDA assures us that eggs are still safe to eat weeks beyond the sell-by date. They just won't be as fresh, which matters most with dishes like poached eggs, as the whites thin and don't hold their mound shape in simmering water as neatly. But the eggs are still edible, still delicious, still function as eggs should in cooking and baking.

Plus, you all know that I freeze eggs, to use months later. From my last batch of frozen eggs (around Easter) I recently found a container in the freezer containing 6 beaten eggs. I used those in a quiche last week, and they were still fine. That's 6 months of storage in the freezer, and still good.

I'll begin working on freezing these eggs some time next week.

Preparations

It's nearing the end of October and I know what is just around he corner. A lot of very good things happen in November. We have a couple of celebrations in November. But in my mind's eye, what I see is buckets of rain pouring out of the sky, for weeks on end, beginning in November.

We had, what seemed like, the longest summer ever here. I had myself convinced that it truly never would end. That we could go on eating from our garden through the holidays, into the new year and right up through the blooming of the tulips. Silly me.

When it rains here, the skies remain dark gray, from sun up to sun down, for several days on end. Then on that final day of a storm, the clouds begin to part and blue sky emerges, framed by puffy white clouds, for about 1 or 2 days, and then the dark skies, and cold and damp returns.

Knowing what we will have, soon, has made me absolutely force myself to be outside all that I can this month. One daughter and I rearranged the deck furniture just for this purpose. We placed the table and chairs right where the low angle of the sun will descend during the lunch hour for this month. She's home on Tuesdays and Thursdays this quarter. So, the two of us have our lunch on the deck, when the weather cooperates. I've been watching a spider spin his web this past month. He's preparing for winter, too.

In addition, the garden has needed my attention, love and hard work.

dill seeds for baking dilly bread this winter

I've been collecting seeds (for planting and cooking).

I have harvested and stored away many of the food stuffs from our little garden.

I had hoped to find prettier pots for the rosemary, but these will do for winter

I dug and potted two young rosemary bushes. I brought these inside for winter this year. I lost my rosemary two years ago due to freezing. Decided it would be better not to take any chances this year, with such young plants.

My potted mint is ready to move into the garage when it goes dormant. It sits on the deck, up against the house for now. I've cut and dried most of what's left, to use in tea this winter.

geranium cuttings to make baby plants

I've taken cuttings off of my favorite geraniums, to root for planting next spring.

my pink geraniums, two pots worth, to overwinter in the living room window

I've brought all of the lovely flowering pots that I can, into the indoor warmth of my house. Some of these I brought in just so I can prolong the feeling of summer a few weeks longer. Others I brought into the house, to overwinter, so they can cheat death and bloom another summer.

my Mother's Day dahlia tubers, kept dry, in the garage, until spring planting

And I dug the tubers from some beautiful flowers, to be held in darkness through winter, until the soil has warmed enough for replanting.

And now I wait. All is done. What needed to be, is now under cover. I can rest, knowing I have done what I can to prepare my garden for the coming rain and gray.

How much pureed pumpkin does a Jack o'lantern make?

I strained the pumpkin in a mesh sieve, saving the liquid for a pot of soup

In case you couldn't have guessed, the pie in yesterday's post was a pumpkin pie, using pumpkin that I cooked on Saturday.

Saturday was a cold and gray day. Nothing better than spending a few hours baking to warm things up. And as it IS the end of October, cooking up one of my Jack o'lantern pumpkins seemed most appropriate.

After last week's post on pumpkin pie frugal hacks, I decided to actually keep track of what 1 Jack o'lantern yields after cooking.

I used an 11 pound Jack o'lantern (if you remember, I paid 19 cents a pound, so $2.09 for the pumpkin).

I baked the pumpkin, stem included, cut in half, seeds scooped out, for about 2 hours at 300 degrees.

I scooped the flesh out with a spoon and ran it through the food processor. With each batch, I then put it in a mesh strainer over a cup, to strain excess liquid. I strained for about 10 minutes per batch.

My yields from one pumpkin:

10 cups of strained puree
3 cups of strained liquid, which I added to a pot of pumpkin soup that evening
2 cups of seeds for roasting

I could have strained the puree longer, and achieved a consistency similar to canned pumpkin. That likely would have reduced my yields to about 8 cups.

pumpkin soup for 4, using 2 cups of puree and all of the straining liquid,
plus a container of frozen ham stock

For the 10 cups of puree, my cost, then is about 41 cents per pound. Had I strained it further, my cost would have been about 52 cents per pound. If I count in the cost of the oven, it would add about 30 cents total. So my cost of pumpkin puree ranges from 48 cents per pound, to 60 cents per pound. And the seeds and soup liquid were a bonus, as was the heated kitchen.

about 2 cups of seeds for roasting and snacking in the afternoon

Not too bad!

and even this wasn't "wasted". The hungry compost heap "ate" it all.

And this is all that was left over.

Pie for dinner

It was that kind of day on Sunday. Just pie and milk for dinner. Some days are like that.

After church, I came home and made lunch for the family. Then I ran the girls around town for the afternoon. When I came in the door around 5:00, pie sounded about as good as anything else.

Don't tell the nutrition police! ;-)

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for mid-October

Delicata squash

(This is Delicata squash. It's rind is creamy-yellow with orange and/or green stripes and softer than most winter squash (the "toughness" is similar to sugar pie pumpkin rind). It doesn't seem to keep as long as many of the hard-rind winter squash. It's flesh is pale orange, and not as high in beta carotene as the darker-fleshed squashes. However, it's one of our favorites for stuffing. Each squash half is about right for one serving. So, stuffing the halves, baked face up, with either meat or vegetable-based fillings makes for a nice presentation.)


Thursday
rice and beans
*curried pea and peanut slaw
*tomato wedges with leftover 1000 Island dressing
peanut butter cookies (yes, THE cookies)

Friday
*bean and ham soup with carrots and Swiss chard
cornbread (from scratch)
*cole slaw
*figs and pears
peanut butter cookies

Saturday
acorn squash
frozen peas
*salad of cabbage, shredded carrots, tomato and cucumber
leftover cornbread
peanut butter cookies

Sunday
leftover acorn squash
*pork, kale, cabbage, carrot stir fry, over
brown rice

Monday
BBQ pork sliders on homemade buns
*salad of pickled beet, beet greens, shredded carrots, tomatoes, cucumber
*applesauce (from freezer)
gingerbread cookies

Tuesday
*kale and bacon quiche
brown rice with peas
*fresh tomato wedges
*asian pear slices

Wednesday
*turkey pot pie (w/ garden potatoes, onions, carrots, bush beans, beet greens, Swiss chard, along with frozen turkey from September)
*rhubarb-apple-blackberry sauce

Thursday
*vegetable-bean soup (pinto beans, canned tomatoes, seasonings, Swiss chard, kale, carrots, green beans, peas)
Dollar Tree crackers with
*cream cheese and spiced fig jam
peanut butter cookies

individual servings of spiced fig jam topping cream cheese

This time of year, when I'm using the oven, I often throw in a winter squash that's been halved, seeded, and placed face down on a small, buttered baking pan. The cooked squash can be added to the next morning's oatmeal, scooped into a to-go container, dotted with butter and sprinkled with cinnamon, or I can make myself a quick lunch of squash soup, using some frozen soup stock, onion powder, and any other spices that sound good in the moment. If I want a richer soup as the main-stay of my lunch, then I swirl in a bit of heavy cream or butter, and some soy milk.

Meals this week, more so than last, have felt more autumnal, with turkey pot pie and soups. whenever possible, I aim to be taking something out of the oven, minutes before everyone shows up to the table. I can leave the oven door ajar, and we reap the benefits of the cooking oven, right next to the kitchen table. I will also announce, when calling for dinner, when we're having soup or stew, or some other meal item that would be so warming to eat, when it's actually still warm. We're using the furnace a little bit right now, not full-time, but a few hours per day. However, the house still can feel chilly in the furthest-from-the-furnace rooms. So, a warming dinner is very appreciated this month.

What was on your menu this past week?

Spiced Green (Unripe) Fig Jam

Tuesday morning, I went out to the squirrel feeder, AKA fig tree, to discover that the next almost-ripe fig has been chewed into. The goodness of another ripe fig gone to those pesky squirrels! Time is running out for any figs to ripen with cold nights just around the corner.

This scenario plays out year after year. We've only tasted a handful of our own ripe figs since we planted the two fig trees almost a dozen years ago. Evidently, there's not much else for squirrels to eat at this time of year.

My Response to Pesky Squirrels
Earlier this week, I took a bucket with me, and picked as many unripe figs as I could reach. Ripe figs are squishy when still on the tree. The unripe ones are firm. To pick an unripe fig, you have to twist the stem, until it breaks, being careful not to get the oozing sap on your skin, as it's a known skin irritant.

When I brought the full bucket of green figs into the house, I filled it with water and set for a 20-minute soak to release the oozing sap while I rounded up jars and spices. Spiced fig jam makes a nice gift, because it's so unusual for this area. So I look for cute small jars for packaging these gifts.

You can use ground spices in this jam, but it's less muddy-looking if you use whole spices. I retrieved my cheesecloth, spice-infusing bag, some cinnamon sticks and whole cloves. I used a whole lemon last year for the zest. This year, I just have bottled lemon juice. I do think that it would be beautiful with long strips of lemon peel in the jar. I'll save that thought for another year. 

After the 20-minute soak in water, I drain the figs, trim the stem end and pierce the bottom end of each (this allows the sap to ooze out), and place the trimmed figs in a stainless pot, covering completely with water.

I bring the trimmed figs to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Unripe figs need 2 to 3 simmering sessions, using fresh water each time. Afterward, I drain the figs in a colander, giving them and the pot a quick rinse. I, then, fill the pot of figs with water. Over Med heat, I bring it to a boil (poke them down from time to time, as they're buoyant), simmer, then drain, repeating this process one last time (for 3 simmering sessions, in total). Drain. Figs change from bright green to an olive green with the cooking process.

The figs are now ready to turn into either jam or whole fig preserves. This is how to make the jam. 

For jam:

1 quart of fine-chopped, cooked figs (unripe), about like you would chop for pickle relish (chop in food processor or with stick blender)
1 1/2 cups water
3 cups of sugar
2 sticks of cinnamon (loose in the jam mixture)
1 heaping tablespoon whole cloves (tied up in cheesecloth or muslin)
3/4 cup of lemon juice

• Fine-chop the cooked, drained figs.
• In a medium stainless or enameled saucepan, stir together fine-chopped figs, water, sugar, and lemon juice. Add the spices, then over the lowest heat, simmer for 1 hour, stirring often. When done, the jam should have some translucency. (Because I like a little extra spice, I add 4 pinches of ground cloves towards the end of the cooking. It gives the jam a rich, earthy, savory flavor. That's up to you. Taste towards the end of cooking, to see if you'd like any extra spice.)

This is supposed to be a thick jam. It will stand up in mounds on a saucer. If you'd like a more "syrup-y" jam, thin with equal parts water and sugar and simmer an 10 additional minutes.

Remove whole spices. Spoon into sterilized jars. Process for 10 to 15 minutes (according to elevation in NCHFP guide in link below) in a boiling water canner. My yield, beginning with 1 quart of fine-chopped, cooked figs is about 5 to 6 half-pints. 

The National Center for Home Food Preservation indicates that a boiling-water canner is sufficient for jams and provides timing according to elevation in a table on this page. In addition to the information concerning jam-process timing, the NCHFP also has a good page about the process for using a boiling-water canner, in case you are unsure.)

This spiced fig jam is delicious paired with a mild and soft cheese, like Brie or even cream cheese, to spread on crackers. I spoon several tablespoons onto a block of cream cheese, to serve with plain crackers.

Just to let you know -- I store my jars of jam in a spare refrigerator. I have no idea how long this will keep on a shelf in the pantry.

A couple of years ago, when I decided to do something with our unripe figs, I had no recipes for this jam. I had to take my little knowledge of figs combined with making jam, then began experimenting. I based my recipe on those for whole, unripe fig preserves. I feel fortunate that I live in a time when I can find information at the touch of my finger through the internet. Other, more pioneering women, had only their intuition and experience to go by in these circumstances.

So, a recipe for unripe fig jam. How does that help you? It doesn't, that is unless you also happen to have a fig tree in your backyard. However, we all have things come to us for which we have no idea how to handle, cook, repair or use. We could discard these freebies. However, the process of doing, creating, and improvising forges pathways in our minds, propelling us onto new horizons and handling new challenges. And that's what makes the human experience extraordinary, in my opinion. After all, as humans, we would never make any progress if we didn't try something new.



You'll find this post, and many others like it, just a click away on this page -- 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.

Just "normalizing" a frugal practice

I had one jar left of the kind of peanut butter that I think makes the best (crispiest) peanut butter cookies. My plan had been to save this jar for cookies, so I tucked it in the back recesses of the pantry.

One afternoon, last week, I mixed the dough and set it in the fridge until the next day when I had time to bake it all.

I took great care to make my peanut butter cookie balls just perfectly sized. I smashed them with a fork, just right, bake them at the proper temperature. My plans were good, but in practice, it just didn't work out.

I burned the bottoms of 2 trays of peanut butter cookies! Ouch!

So, what does a frugal person do with burnt cookie bottoms? Well, I got out a sharp knife and began scraping the burned portions off. I ended up with a pile of burnt crumbs, maybe 2 cookies worth of crumbs. I was sorely disappointed in the burnt cookies, but I did what I could to salvage them. Fortunately, I'm not related to any really picky eaters! ;-)

This is normal, right? You'd scrape the bottoms of burnt cookies, too, right? Just trying to normalize some of the frugal, but sensible, things that frugal folks do.

Saving seeds for next year's garden

parsley plant, gone to seed

Last week, I spent a fair amount of time cleaning up the vegetable garden. In ding so, I found ti was time to collect the seeds from my parsley plant. In spring, when planting seeds, I discovered I was out of parsley seeds. So, I chose to let one of 2014-seeded parsley plants go to seed. (Parsley is a biennial, the first year it has a full season, the second year it comes back early, then goes to seed mid to late season.)

Letting a plant go to seed does look less than tidy, for a couple of months. But it is the way to obtain free seeds for the next year.

I think I collected enough parsley seeds to seed a football field! And in the process of collecting them, I probably free-seeded my herb garden with next year's parsley. Later this week, I'll do a germination test on a few of those seeds, so I can determine their viability, and whether or not I'll need to buy parsley seeds next year.

You know how to check for viability/germination in seeds? Place 10 seeds in a folded paper towel, napkin or tissue. Wet the napkin/towel with water till damp. Place into a plastic ziploc bag and seal closed. Leave this in a warm spot (on the fridge top, on the tumble dryer, on an old big-back television, any spot that stays around 70-80 degrees). Check every 2 to 3 days, sprinkling the towel with water, as needed, to keep damp. Note the days till germination for your own planting purposes next spring. Most seeds will germinate within 2 to 3 weeks, some in as few as 4 or 5 days (cabbage family seeds germinate quickly). If after 2-3 weeks, only 3 of the 10 seeds have sprouted, then you have roughly a 30% germination rate for the remainder of your seeds. 70 to 80% germination is considered good. But a lesser percentage of germination is still usable. You simply need to seed more thickly to account for the less than ideal germination rate. So, my own germination rate will 1) tell me if I collected the seeds in time, and whether or not the seeds had time to mature, and 2) what my germination rate is likely to be in spring, for determining how thickly to plant my parsley.

I'm still waiting for the beet seeds, from the 2 beets that I allowed to set seeds, to fully mature. I may have to cover those plants with a row cover, to give them as much time to mature without rotting, as possible.

collected parsley seeds, in a junk mail envelope

I store my saved seeds, in junk mail envelopes, in a glass jar, in the fridge. I add those little silica gel packets, that come in vitamin bottles, to the seed jar, as a precaution, to reduce moisture in the jar.

And in case you don't already know this, you don't want to collect seeds from hybrid plants. Many tomato plants that you buy at the nursery are hybrids, for example. Collected seeds from a hybrid won't remain true to that hybrid. (However, when one of my hybrid tomatoes has self-seeded in the mulch, and a random tomato plant has erupted in my garden, I still leave it there and collect any tomatoes from it that it wants to give me.)

I like to go through all of my seeds, now, at the end of the gardening, season. It gives me a chance to pick up any packets of seeds on clearance, barter/exchange seeds with friends, and plan for the next planting season, so I am free to start my seeds, next spring (or winter), whenever I am ready. If the winter is indeed a mild one, as has been forecasted for my area, then I could be able to start seeds indoors (to plant out later), as early as late January.

Pumpkin pie frugal hacks: 4 frugal hacks for the pumpkin itself

So, the talk is a canned pumpkin shortage this year. While I'm sad to not have the abundance of canned pumpkin that we've had in previous years, I also realize that these things happen, and I need to find a way to manage. This is what I do, and what may work for you, as well.

Frugal hack #1

Canned pumpkin is actually something of a convenience food item. Someone else has already done the work to process the whole pumpkins, making them ready for baking and cooking.

So, the first frugal hack is a no-brainer.

Cook and puree your own pumpkin. With your Hallowe'en Jack o' lantern, carve it  no earlier than Hallowe'en afternoon. Save any scraps in the fridge, for cooking the next day. Set it out for decoration on Hallowe'en night (maybe in a window, if you've got pumpkin smashers in your neighborhood). After trick or treaters are done in your neighborhood, put the carved pumpkin in the fridge with the scraps. Then in the morning, on November 1, cook and puree the pumpkin. Freeze in 2-cup containers.

When you thaw home-cooked pumpkin, it will be a little watery. Dump the thawed pumpkin into a mesh sieve over a measuring cup. This will strain out some of the excess liquid. Then you can use this "water", mixed with powdered milk to make some of your baking liquid for the pie, or you can save this pumpkin liquid to add to soup anther day.

I bought 3 whole carving pumpkins this year for 19 cents per pound.  According to Good Housekeeping (source, here), 3 pounds of fresh pumpkin will yield about 3 cups of puree. A pound (2 cups) of home-cooked pumpkin, enough for 1 pie, will take 2 pounds of fresh pumpkin. So, based on Good Housekeeping's information, my cost for 1 pound of cooked pumpkin puree will be about 38 cents. For reference, the small can of Libby's pumpkin weighs 15 oz., and the store-brand is currently on sale at Fred Meyer for $1.25.

But wait! I'm cooking my Jack o' lanterns. They have a slightly higher water content than sugar pie pumpkins. So, let's say it takes 3 pounds of Jack o' lantern pumpkin to yield 2 cups of puree (that's actually very close to what I've had in the past). Then my cost per 16 ounces (or 2 cups) of puree is about 57 cents. Even so, this is far less than the cost of canned pumpkin. And the bonus is pumpkin seeds for roasting! And (one more "and") if this was your Jack o' lantern that you bought anyways, it's basically "free" pie filling.

The way to maximize your resulting cooked pumpkin is too cook all of the stringy goo, too. It's just pumpkin flesh, and nothing weird. I promise. If you oven-roast or microwave the pumpkin with skin on, you can scrape all of the flesh out of the cooked skin with little trouble, and little waste.

Frugal hack #2

From what I understand, canned pumpkin isn't even really canned pumpkin, but a type of squash similar in texture and flavor to butternut squash. So, frugal hack #2 is to buy a butternut squash, cook and puree. Butternut squash is less watery than Jack o' lantern pumpkin, so the same weight butternut will yield more cooked puree. If you can find butternut squash on sale for 39 cents/lb (that's what I paid at Fred Meyer on Friday), then 2 pounds of squash will yield 2 cups of puree (about 16 ounces), at a price of 78 cents per 16 ounces, still cheaper than canned pumpkin. And again, the seeds are edible. (Actually, you can use any type of orange-fleshed winter squash in place of pumpkin. Use what's cheap and abundant for you.)

Frugal hack #3

Let's say you don't like cooking squash or pumpkin, too much work and mess with the cleaning and all. This is a frugal hack that I've used successfully, takes only a little work, and "stretches" whatever canned pumpkin that I do buy, by two-fold. I cook and puree carrots to blend 50/50 with canned pumpkin.

Fresh carrots are about 40 cents per pound in the fall months, for me. Even with trimming the carrots, my cost per pound is under 50 cents. If I cook and puree the carrots, I can blend with purchased canned pumpkin, bringing my pumpkin/carrot-cost portion of a recipe down to about 75 cents per pound (if buying canned pumpkin for $1 for a 15-oz can). The spices in most of these recipes nicely mask any carrot taste. And no one seems to be the wiser. And actually, cooked, pureed carrots have been a substitute for pumpkins in pie, for generations. Some call this a faux pumpkin pie, others just call it "pumpkin" pie, and leave the secret with the cook.

To make using carrots as easy as possible, I cook them up in large batches, puree and freeze in recipe-size portions. And preparing carrots in this way is a whole lot easier than preparing whole pumpkins for baking.

Frugal hack #4

If you live where sweet potatoes grow well, then they may be an affordable substitute for half of the pumpkin in your pies. I typically find sweet potatoes for about 79 cents per pound in November. Sweet potatoes are very dense, and there is very little waste, just the peels, when processing for recipes. For about 85 cents worth of sweet potato, I can get about 2 cups of puree, and yes, that's still cheaper than any canned pumpkin. Blending half sweet potato puree with half pumpkin puree (canned or home-cooked) makes a very nice pie.

If you're using pureed carrots or sweet potatoes to stretch your canned pumpkin, then one 15-ounce can of pumpkin, which "normally" makes 1 pie, can be stretched to make 2 pies. And if you only need one pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, but might like another at Christmas, then you can freeze half of your can of pumpkin and save it till the next month.

(I know that all sorts of folks, with all sorts of budgets read this blog. I just want to point out that this tip to use half a can of pumpkin for Thanksgiving and the other half at Christmas, by stretching with a veggie like carrots, could be useful for a family that uses the services of a food bank for much of their groceries. I know that our own food bank has limited amounts of items like canned pumpkin, and allots only 1 can per family. It saddens me that this is the case, where a family might not have the resources to afford to buy more canned pumpkin, on their own. So, I offer these suggestions, as workable solutions, if you are in this group of folks just trying to have a nice Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. Derail over.)

Even without a shortage, canned pumpkin is on the expensive side for veggies, for me, at over $1 per pound. I try to keep our vegetable price per pound under 79 cents. So if I'm not finding any spectacular deals on canned pumpkin (as I did last year in the #10 cans at the wholesaler), then I use one of these hacks in my pumpkin baking. And my family is the happy to eat anything "pumpkin-y" that I bake.


note: methods for pureeing cooked pumpkins, squash, sweet potatoes -- food processor, blender, hand-held blender, food mill. Using a food mill has the option of leaving the skin on the pumpkin, when cooking, according to the Foley company which has been making food mills since the 1920s. The screen on the mill catches the skin.

What do you think about surveys to earn cents off on gasoline purchases?

Do you do the online surveys, found at the bottom of some store receipts? Some of these surveys have the perk of entering you in a drawing for gift cards to the stores for the surveys. I occasionally fill those out.

But there's one type of survey that I make sure I always fill out. The store survey that gives me reward points to redeem for cents off of gasoline purchases.

Our local Fred Meyer chain offers 50 points for each survey completed. 100 points gives 10 cents off per gallon. In essence, that 50 points is equal to 5 cents off per gallon, which for my car yields about a 75 cents savings with each monthly fill-up.

The limitation to these surveys is that you can only fill out one survey per 7 calendar days, and you must complete the survey within 7 days (no saving up surveys to use later).

To maximize my gas savings, I wait to fill-up the car until I am down to my last gallon. And then I fill it completely. For my vehicle use, this will get me through the month, most months. Occasionally, I'm needing to use the car more often (as when I have to pick up my daughter regularly from rehearsals, in the city), or travel farther (as when we drive a distance to see family). In those months, I fill completely with the discount, then late in the month, I add just barely what I need to get into the next month. (We're no longer allowed to fill gas cans with extra gas with our discount.)

This savings is so great, and the work involved in filling out the survey is so minimal, that I add "survey completion" to my weekly to-do list. On average, I receive 150 points for surveys per month, which translates to a 15 cent per gallon savings, on top of the savings from rewards points from the original grocery purchase. Before I added "survey completion" to my weekly to-do list, I found I was forgetting, or not doing the survey in the right time frame, therefore missing out on these potential gasoline savings.

When I am done filling out the survey, I mark on my receipt when I completed the survey, so I will know when I am eligible to fill out another one.

And I track my points, by looking at the bottom of my receipts with each shopping. Some months, I can time my survey completion for better benefit. If I am near the end of the month, and that 50 points for the survey won't put me over another threshold for rewards, then I "save" that survey until the first of the next month, when I can actually use the survey points.

It's mid-month, and I currently have enough rewards points for next month's gas to save 20 cents per gallon. So I know that I will save at least $3 on my gasoline purchase next month.

As for time involved in filling out the survey, I spend about 5 minutes per survey, and I earn rewards points equal to 5 cents/gallon, or 75 cents per fill-up. I can spare 5 minutes of my day for that. When I wonder if it's worth the time to do these surveys, I ask myself, "how many 5-minute increments do I waste on mindless online activities?"

And because I just like to do the math -- on average I earn 150 points through this grocery store survey per month, which is 15 cents/gallon savings. I add about 15 gallons of gasoline per month, using the rewards points, multiplied by 12 months of the year. Using the survey bonus rewards, alone, I save about $27 per year. That's a quick-service lunch out for the family, or a movie night, with popcorn, for two, or, 27 items of clothing from St Vincent de Paul's 99cent Sundays, or about 3/4 of a tank of gas for my car (with our current low-ish gas prices).  :-)

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for early October

This is Blue Kuri squash. Blue Kuri is a winter squash, with blue-gray rind and orange-gold flesh. It's a sweet winter squash, about 2 lbs each, and round with ribbing. I love the color and think they make beautiful decor pieces. They store well, so can be left in the decor for several weeks. (Check the undersides for mold development from time to time.) I bake them with skin on, cut in half, seeds removed, then scoop out the flesh for serving. The seeds are edible, too! Roast those babies! Yum!

Thursday
*kale, cabbage, apple, bacon, date salad in a mustard dressing
*baby carrots roasted in saved chicken fat
bean burritos in homemade tortillas
*leftover apple pie

Friday
corn pudding with ham gravy (gravy from freezer)
leftover pork and beans (from freezer)
*large salad of garden veggies -- lettuce, beet greens, tomatoes, cucumber
*applesauce (from freezer)

Saturday
*turkey and garden veggie soup -- with baby carrots, Swiss chard and purple potatoes (turkey in stock from freezer)
bread and butter
*tomato wedges in dressing
*fresh pear, fig and dates
homemade brownies

Sunday
make your own pizza night -- mini pizzas with black olives, green pepper, fresh onion slices and fresh tomato slices, in addition to marinara and cheese
frozen green beans w/ almonds
brownies

Monday
oven-roasted chicken leg, smothered in leftover marinara sauce, cheese and leftover pizza toppings
brown rice, cooked with herbs
*kale, cabbage, apple, bacon, date salad (repeat from Thursday, it was that good)
brownies

Tuesday
*chicken-vegetable soup
*vegetable-cheese pizza
*rhubarb-blackberry crumble

Wednesday
*Swiss chard sauteed, with bacon
Blue Kuri squash (a winter squash)
*tomato wedges with 1000 Island dressing
bean burgers
frozen cut corn
*leftover rhubarb-blackberry crumble


*indicates part or all of this menu item came from garden or orchard

Yesterday, in the comments, Kris mentioned that her table is reflecting the season, with the various seasonal fruits and vegetables in her menus. I think we've got the same thing goin' on here in my own kitchen, between the winter squash, kale, cabbage, pears and apples.

It seems that summer fruit and veggies take center stage. But much of the autumn produce is so delicious, too. Do you have any favorite fall fruits or vegetables? Where ever you live, what says fall to you? (I'm looking forward to hearing what YHF has to say, given her location!)


Also, check out the other post, today, for an update from Sara on homemade gummy candies. In today's update, she answers some questions from the original post, concerning how well they hold up to heat, as well as freezing temperatures. Like I said, check it out!

Homemade gummy candy update from Sara

Good morning, Ladies!

Lili and I were talking some more about home-made gummy treats, and she's allowing me a little blog space to update you with some additional information which answers some questions from my original post.

Live and Learn was curious about carrying these gummies in an uncooled backpack or in a hot car situation.  We experimented some with this, and had mixed, but interesting, results.


In our experience, the gummies will travel pretty well in an ice-chest style lunchbox with ice, and moderately well in one without any ice.  As long as they were kept from getting actually "hot", ours seemed to tend to stay firm and gummy, not weep, and not lose their shape for hours... in fact, in two cases, for a couple of days.  I was quite pleased.

Previously-frozen gummies melted in the car on a hot day.

Without any sort of temperature protection, obviously, they didn't fare as well.  In a plastic bag in an un-airconditioned car during a heatwave (I'm not sure of the exact temperature in the car), a half-dozen (previously frozen) gummies almost totally melted to gooey liquid in an hour.  The fruit and fruit juice gummies had not mixed with one another, but they'd melted into one very-liquid mass.  The fruit juice gummies, probably because they were firmer to begin with/had more gelatine proportionally, melted less-completely than the ones with actual fruit; but neither was firm enough to eat with your hands. So, home-made gummies are probably not the best option for an on-the-go snack carried unprotected in a hot climate.

One of the interesting parts of this experiment, however, was that the gummies had held their shape and only gotten slightly melty for the first 45-50 minutes.  Then all the sudden they were liquid at an hour.  The first 20 minutes, I'd actually left them on the sunny dashboard. So, clearly, they can take some heat; but once they're truly too hot, they're going to melt.

Same gummies totally firm again after 20 minutes in the house
 at (not very cool) room temperature.

Even more interesting, however, was what happened when I left the bag of melted gummies on the counter in the house (maybe 75 degrees that day). I came back in 10-15 minutes to find that they had completely re-congealed!  Looking back, I could see that you might re-congeal them in cold conditions, because re-setting gelatin desserts is something most of our grandmothers/mothers knew you could do.  Still, I was very surprised that these gummies firmed up again at (warm) room temperature.  We taste-tested them, and they were not sticky or gooey.  They'd lost a little of their firmness, but were basically "gummy" again (or "jigglers" again, at the very least.)  Neato!

Also, in the original discussion, YHF wondered if home-made gummies could be frozen for later enjoyment. The answer is a resounding "yes!"  We tossed a few from the posted recipe batches into a freezer bag, and left them in the freezer for a couple of weeks.  It wasn't long enough for freezer burn or any real "long-term" damage; but since some foods seem to deteriorate (especially in consistency) from even very short-term freezing, we figured that that was a reasonable introductory test.

We were pleased and a little surprised to find that, after thawing overnight in the refrigerator, our previously-frozen gummies had absolutely no discernible change in either their taste or their consistency.  Both the fruit and fruit juice gummies came out perfect, and they lasted nicely again in the fridge (didn't seem to have any reduction in longevity of freshness) until we sacrificed the last of them to the hot car experiment.

Speaking of longevity, we were frankly amazed at how long these gummies seemed to stay perfectly fresh and wholesome in the refrigerator.  Due to some unexpected changes in plans, we did not eat them nearly as fast as we'd expected to; so the original gummies we didn't freeze must have sat more than 10 days with no noticeable change in texture or smell to indicate that it was time to throw them out.  Everyday I expected to have to, but I never felt it was necessary; and we ate each and every one with relish.  Packaged, artificially-flavored jello has never lasted that long in our house, so I have no idea how long that stays edible.  But one would expect that a product with actual juice and/or fruit, and no real "preservative" would have a more limited refrigerator life.  I'm not suggesting that you leave yours for ages in the fridge (especially since we know they can be frozen), but I did think that this was worth mentioning, at least.

Ginger-Lemon-Honey Gummies

Last, in honor of YHF and the other ginger fans in the group, our latest gummy experiment was a Ginger-Lemon-Honey flavor (only "single" ginger, though, YHF <wink>).  We erred on the side of softer gummies (a family member's preference) in adjusting to make a larger batch than the fruit juice recipe posted before; so if you want the true gumminess, I'd add another half-packet of gelatine at the very least to the amounts below.  Ours were a little more on the "jiggler" side, though still quite sturdy.  The rest of the instructions are the same, except that you may wish to strain the ginger gratings out, especially if your digestion is sensitive to the skin, and you don't peel it before grating.

We thought that these were delicious-- like the ginger broth you might drink when you have a cold.

Ginger-Lemon-Honey Gummies

Juice of 1 lemon
Water to make a total of 2 cups of liquid
1 in. section of fresh ginger root, grated finely (easier to grate, though harder on your grater, if frozen)
3 tablespoons honey

4 packets of gelatine sprinkled in 1/2 cup of room-temperature water

Heat the lemon juice, water, ginger root and honey in a small saucepan and simmer until pungent and slightly reduced.  Meanwhile, soften your gelatine in the cold/room-temperature water.  Strain the ginger liquid, and mix with softened gelatine until completely dissolved. Chill.  Set in an 8x8 square casserole, this batch made us 50 gummies (about 3/4" rounds) and lots of delicious scraps.

Best wishes, everybody!  Sara

The fall garden and an autumnal salad

kale, apple, cabbage, date and bacon salad, in tangy mustard dressing

We are in full autumnal mode with our garden right now. This is what it produces in the months of October and November, before it takes its annual winter rest.

We harvested the rest of the late pear tree. These pears have a thick, partially-russeted skin. Their variety is Conference. This variety is known to be productive and the pears are long-keepers. I harvest them in October, and they will keep in the refrigerator until January. They need a ripening period on the counter, for about 5-7 days, to soften up. Our pear harvest was spectacular this year! We've been eating fresh pears near daily, since early August, and have at least 1 large refrigerator drawer-full left (enough to give us fresh pears, near daily through most of November).

Later this month, I'll be harvesting cranberries. Our cranberries didn't do as well this year as previous years. It could be the extreme dry summer we had, or that the soil had been disturbed to plant a hedge adjacent to the cranberry patch. But, I didn't use all of the cranberries from last year. I still have a quart in the freezer. So, at least I have enough for a batch or two of cranberry sauce.

In the veggie garden, I still have 3 heads of cabbage. I've been picking the cabbage largest heads first, so I am down to the smallest of the patch, but which should fill our cabbage wants for the rest of the month, and maybe into the first week of November. If I don't get to using all of the cabbage before hard frost, cabbage is one of the veggies that I can put a row cover over, to "keep" the cabbage a while longer. I have a clear, plastic-sheet tunnel that I can use over the cabbage and kale, to "keep" those veggies all of winter. They won't grow past the end of this month, but can be held until use.

The carrots are as big as they will ever be this season. In our area, its understood that carrots pretty much finish growth by late September. But I can keep them in the ground until early November. I didn't thin them, as I should have, so what I have in the garden are lots of baby carrots. I've been pulling handfuls of small carrots all month. I have enough carrots to last the rest of October, using them twice per week in dinners.

I have 3 types of greens in the garden that are still doing wonderfully, radish greens, Swiss chard and kale. The Swiss chard is most vulnerable to frost, so I am using that mostly for now, leaving as much kale and radish greens for late month and through mid-November. The lettuce has just stragglers left. So our salads are mostly from the cole family, with an occasional lettuce leaf or beet leaf thrown in for interest.

I have pulled the largest of the beets, and now have small, 1 to 2-inch diameter beets left. We've had quite a rainy period, and it's possible the beets will gain in size over the next week or two, so I'm refraining from pulling any of these smaller beets now. I can leave them in the ground as long as the carrots, so there is no rush to harvest them. I do use some of the leaves, especially with the beets which were planted too late to really develop a root.

I still need to dig the other half of the potatoes. They were buried under the sprawling pumpkin plants, so I only dug the half that I could easily get to. I am hoping that I find many potatoes under the other half. I grew white potatoes and purple fingerling potatoes, using seed potatoes saved from past years. I've put away a dozen seed potatoes for next year, from the half-patch that I dug in September.

I still have tomatoes and apples, already harvested and in use in meals for this month. And my figs, although a bit on the late side of their harvest, are still sizing up, so I'm leaving them on the tree through this week. The tree is on a south-facing wall, so it benefits from the heat-trap effect. These fresh figs have been a nice addition to fruit cups. At the end of next week, any figs not sized-up will be used in spiced fig jam.

And that's about it for what's left in our garden for this year. The garden will rest from mid-November through early March. Sometime in March, the Swiss chard, and kale will make a comeback, before going to seed. In addition, the watercress will have seeded and be ready for use, and the sorrel, a perennial, will be up and at its tender best, at that time.



Gone are the lettuce, cucumber, tomato salads of summer, for this year. It's always sad to say goodbye to the delicious garden veggies of summer. But in exchange, we do get to say hello to the lovely, crunchy, dense salads of autumn.

Kale, apple, cabbage, date and bacon salad 

I've been making this particular salad for October. It uses items from our fall garden, and is packed with nutrients and flavor. It's especially frugal for me, as I grow most of its ingredients. And I think it would be easy to switch things up, according to what I have on hand.

I like the combination of sweet, sharp and salty. Apples and dates lend sweetness. Mustard and baby kale add that sharpness that makes it interesting. And bacon gives it that savory/salty taste that I love. Cabbage basically puts the kale on mute. It adds bulk and more healthy veg to the salad, without going overboard on the kale flavor.


Here's what I've been using:

1 green apple (Granny Smith-type), quartered, cored and sliced thin (skin on)
1 large handful of baby kale, finely shredded, about 1  1/2  to 2 cups of shreds (if you use mature kale, remove the stem before shredding)
2 cups of shredded green cabbage
about 10 pitted dates, cut into quarters, lengthwise (other dried fruit would work, too, such as dried cranberries)
2 to 3 tablespoons bacon bits (this is about 2-3 strips of bacon, fried, and crumbled)

Dressing:
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
2 teaspoons vinegar (I've been using my chive blossom vinegar)

Prepare the dressing in the bottom of a large bowl. Toss with the vegetables and fruits. Sprinkle the bacon bits on top, and toss just before serving.

This salad can be prepared several hours before serving, and kept in the refrigerator. Don't mix in the bacon bits until just before serving, to maintain their crunch.

serves 4 to 5, as a side dish (1-cup servings)

There's hope for my sad mums, isn't there?

When you buy a plant, you hope it will last longer than a month. Sometimes, weather just doesn't cooperate.

I bought a couple of mums back in early September. And they were doing great for a while. And then last week, I noticed the blooms were all droopy and withered. I checked the soil, and it was damp enough. So I began thinking maybe a light frost had hit them. One of my daughters had commented that around the 1st of the month it was quite cold in the morning when she left for classes. So, perhaps that's what happened.

Anyway, I cut all off the sad, limp blooms off, and found a bunch of new buds forming. There's hope yet!

I also moved the pots to the back door, on the south side of the house, where they will get more sun and warmth. I may bring them indoors, to enjoy in November for a few weeks. They do have a nice russet coloring that would be perfect for our home in these next few weeks.

Just wondering if anyone, here, has had success bringing garden mums indoors for a spell? Does it bother you, too, when you buy a plant like a mum, and it only lasts a few weeks? I like to think I get my money's worth, when I buy something.