Saving *is* earning for April

floral centerpiece for kitchen table, using wisteria, salal, big root geranium and ivy

A penny saved is a penny earned.

This spring, it feels like we're hemorrhaging "green". Every time I turn around, there's another repair, or, medical/dental need, or, replacement which has to be paid for. And, oh yeah, we've been spending some money on fun stuff, too (like the trip to SF, and some new French doors and work on our living room). So, to keep me motivated and stay on track with my frugal vigilance, I began a list of all the ways that I was saving money for the month of April.

Even if it has been an expensive season for us, at least it wasn't made worse by neglecting many of my frugal endeavors.

I know that some of you, also, make these lists or keep track of savings for the month, as a way to maintain your frugal motivation. I think they're fun to read. So I thought I'd post mine. Feel free to share yours in the comments.

Here's the bulk of my "saving is earning" for April.

Groceries

• kept spending below budget amount for the month
• went to WinCo again this month and saved several dollars over shopping at other stores for same items
• drank more tap water and less coffee/tea
• rationed out the one small can of decaf coffee to get through entire month (decaf is more expensive than regular). Once per week, I scooped 1/4 of the can into the decaf jar, and made this small can last the whole month.
• shopped at the ethnic store for produce, and found a second ethnic store close to us
• made vanilla sugar with spent vanilla beans, for use in coffee and tea
• made rosemary-garlic infused olive oil for dipping bread
• baked one birthday cake and one birthday pie, both scratch-made, instead of buying a bakery item or using mixes 
• ate more bean-based meals to conserve the supply of meat in the freezers
• was able to skip buying whipping cream to add to daughter's milk (woo-hoo! This is great for several reasons!)
• used up the last 6 pounds of very wrinkled potatoes, as mashed potatoes, enough for 2 dinners and a couple of servings at lunch
• cooked simple meals from scratch
• baked all breads, muffins, flour tortillas, and desserts from scratch (including this past Friday, when I didn't want to make tortillas, and knew I could pick up a package for a dollar, but I did make them, anyway, as I knew it would help the bottom line)
• used my crockpot to make overnight steel cut oats and regular oatmeal for quick breakfasts in the mornings a couple of times per week, used crockpot to have soup ready after church on Sundays, used crockpot to cook beans from dried for easy vegetarian meals
• made another batch of pie pastry for the freezer (enough for 5 crusts)
• I was bored with my homemade whole wheat and homemade French bread, so I asked a friend for ideas, and branched out a bit. I made wheat and oat bread a week ago. I picked up rye flour at WinCo earlier this month, and now have also made some rye bread to spice things up in the bread box. I had been seriously tempted to buy some bread at the store. Making some different types of bread, myself, saved a couple of dollars per loaf.

Restaurant dining

• skipped restaurants for 2 birthdays this month and made dinners at home, using what we had on hand (plus 1 purchased basket of strawberries for my cake)
• resisted the urge to pick up quick meals or Starbucks for myself when out running errands, and came home to prepare yummy and quick meals, and brewed my own coffee
• daughter and I split her 1 free bagel at Panera while out running errands together. They split and toasted that bagel for us, plus gave us free butter to spread on it, and free water to drink. We sat by the fire to eat our free snack. We saved my free bagel to take home, wrap in plastic wrap and give to husband as part of his birthday freebies bag
• enjoyed my free ice cream cone and free dish of frozen yogurt, as birthday freebies, for my lunch on two occasions
• ate every meal of the month at home or packed from home (with exception to the freebies for the month)

Gasoline

• bought a few gift cards at Fred Meyer during 2-week 4X fuel rewards promotion. I saved 90 cents a gallon as a result, netting over $9 in savings on gas from those gift card purchases alone
• kept track of survey opportunities to earn bonus fuel points, 3 times this month (150 points total), saving an extra 15 cents per gallon

Clothing/grooming/health/personal

• didn't buy any new clothing/shoes/accessories this month
• made 1 apron out of an old dress I had
• cut my own hair for free
• colored my hair from a box, bought in a 3-pack online, at a discount
• bought some face and neck cream from Marshall's at a discount
• made fragranced bath oil with vegetable oil and essential oils, used an old essential oil vial to dispense
• used $5 off coupon (came in mail as a result of signing up for savings program) to buy vitamin supplement that I would have bought anyway. The sale on this supplement plus the $5 off coupon, rendered it cheaper than the cheapest online source by a couple of dollars
• bought myself the cheapest, bare-bones prepaid cell phone, for $4.99; I won't activate the phone until I need it, maybe in early June

Freebies

• make-up freebies from Sephora (birthday)
• 4 free bagels, for me, from Panera (April promotion, one daughter had to take her computer into Apple -- under warranty, phew -- a couple of times this month; a couple of those times I picked her up afterwards, with Panera in the same complex, so no extra gas spent to get those bagels)
• 6 or 7 free bagels from Panera for my daughter -- I lost track of how many she tried there this month
• scoop of ice cream from Baskin & Robbins (birthday)
• cup of frozen yogurt from Menchie's (birthday)
• 2 travel-size containers of shower gel to use in daughters's stockings at Christmas (coupons from Bath & Body Works in mail, no purchase necessary)
• Friday Freebies at Fred Meyer -- small bag of snack mix, individual bottle flavored water, container of chip dip, gummy worms
• 2 free chocolates from See's when we went to buy 4 chocolates for a birthday gift

last year's geraniums, overwintered indoors until last week

Home/garden

• bought 2 gift cards to Home Depot, at Fred Meyer, to take advantage of 4X fuel rewards, then used that HD gift card for purchases for yard work, as needed
• used some of the surplus electricity budget $$ to buy more LEDs for the house
• bought primroses on clearance, to plant in garden, will come back year after year
• moved my geraniums and mums, which I overwintered indoors, out to deck, all survived
• replanted 2 rosemary bushes, which I dug up in fall, and overwintered indoors
• moved my lavender cuttings which have rooted (cuttings taken at end of last summer), out to the deck
• made a bottle of lavender linen spray from lavender oil, rubbing alcohol and water
• made a bottle of spray starch for ironing, from liquid starch and water in a recycled fine-mist bottle, used this spray starch to refresh my "new" apron
• found bar soap on clearance at Fred Meyer and made several batches of laundry soap
• bought year's supply (two 33-lb buckets) of laundry detergent when on sale at Cash & Carry, at almost half-price of buying Dollar Tree's laundry powder
• I made my own potting soil mix for the planters on the deck and to top-dress the cranberry bed, using composted manure, bagged topsoil and some packaged veggie-tomato fertilizer (about 1 to 2 parts manure to 3 parts bagged top soil, and just a sprinkling of fertilizer). This works for me in large pots and planters on the deck, but is not good for starting seeds. I buy seed-starting soil that is used only in flats of seedlings. My homemade potting soil mix is about half-price the cost of buying potting soil.
• composted all food and garden waste, moved finished compost to area of the flower garden
• started seeds for annual flowers for the garden, instead of buying seedlings, saved about $4, "rescued" pansy and viola babies that free-seeded in pots on deck, and moved to new spots to fill other pots
• started seeds for 2 kinds of thyme for pots, using seeds I had at home
• made bouquets for the kitchen table, from garden blooms and greenery, once a week
• transplanted spinach, cabbage, kale, parsley to garden, started from seeds indoors; direct-seeded carrots, radish, beets, chard, peas, spinach, dill, cilantro. When I thinned the radishes and beets, I did so with a screwdriver, to gently remove extra seedlings, and replant in bare places.

Utilities

• around the 20th of April, turned the thermostat low enough that it effectively turned the furnace off until fall. On chilly days, we wear fleece and a couple of layers. The house has been around 64-65 degrees F on cool days, and up to about 75 on the warm ones.(had to be turned back on, on April 26th right around 60 degrees F inside, too cold -- oh well)
• installed 4 new LED bulbs, to replace 2 CFLs and 2 incandescent bulbs
• used gray water, from rinsing vegetables, to water pots on the deck
• used rain barrel water for watering the garden

Finances

• kept track of 2 sizable checks due in the mail, and deposited immediately into interest-bearing account
• finalized all of the paperwork on my end for charitable donation of stock shares to our church, saving us on next year's taxes
• had 1-hour meeting with financial consultant at our brokerage/investment firm (for free) to educate me on some investment strategies
• got all of our tax paperwork for husband and self, plus 2 of our kids, done, submitted and on-time, long-hand (skipped the paid, tax software)
• paid all bills electronically or over the phone, with exception to water bill (uses a service for e-payments, which charges a fee), saving a stamp for the utility bills
• paid bills in full, saving on auto-insurance and tuition by paying the full amount and skipping monthly payments

Gifts/holiday

• bought a gift card for step-mom for Mother's Day a few weeks early, to take advantage of 4X fuel rewards
• bought a bunch of greeting/birthday/wedding cards on clearance at Jo Ann Fabrics, 90% off, then 15% off total purchase with coupon - yielding about 92% off each card
• bought next year's Easter candy, double-bagged and stored in a trunk in a cool closet in house
• bought Easter-themed cupcake liners at 70% off, plus a 15% off coupon (after sale and coupon applied, works out to 25% of original price)
• with an expensive package to mail to a friend, I've been weighing the components to keep below the max weight limit for the lowest possible postal fee. I went online at USPS to find the information on mailing costs, package size and weight limits for each tier of the fees. My goal is to get the most into that package as possible, without having to pay for the next weight limit up, because I went over by a couple of ounces.
• reused gift wrap and tissue paper, ironing on low setting to smooth out wrinkles before wrapping. Saved ribbons/bows and wrapping still in good condition.

Fun stuff

• went to beach on a sunny day, parked up the hill in old town, free street parking, instead of paid parking lot at the beach
• set up the fire ring on patio and enjoyed a fire and roasting marshmallows one warm April evening
• downloaded lots of free music to my computer via Freegal (through library, 3 free songs per week), then onto my ipod
• enjoyed walks through neighborhood on pleasant days, bringing my camera to help me really see the beauty around me
• watched informational and fun videos on youtube
• read excerpts from books on Amazon, enough to glean some valuable information (this works better with non-fiction than fiction, obviously)
• writing this list -- yes, I had fun doing this!

Birthday freebies snack bag for husband's birthday present (all packed in a reused Happy Birthday gift bag)

• Tostitos Dipitizers Spinach and Artichoke dip -- 10 oz (I added 1 sleeve of Ritz-style crackers from Dollar Tree to go with this dip)
• Black Forest organic gummy worms -- 4 oz
• Doritos Snack Mix -- 3 oz
• Tum-E Yummies enhanced water -- 10 oz
• Panera chocolate chip bagel

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers-- another birthday in the week

rhubarb-blackberry gelatin (chilling in the shallow baker shortens it's set-time)

Wednesday, I woke up with the beginnings of a migraine. It only increased as the day wore on. Ugh. As a result, I got very little done that day and the next. No blogging for me. My apologies. But check back over the weekend, if you're online. I may have an extra post for you (that just wasn't ready to hit publish on Thursday morning). I hope you had a great week!

Here's our Cheap & Cheerful menu for this past week:

Friday (my husband's birthday with a family celebration at home)

Cod cakes (remember when I asked for ideas to use some frozen cod?)
Homemade sweet potato shoestring fries
Celery sticks
Lemon Meringue pie

Saturday

Homemade olive and mushroom pizza
Apple wedges
Carrot and celery sticks
Leftover pie

Sunday

Minestrone soup
Yorkshire pudding

Monday

Scratch macaroni and cheese
Leftover minestrone soup
Rhubarb-blackberry jello

Tuesday

Corn souffle (using this recipe) (with the last of the ham cracklings as the add-in)
Leftover rhubarb-blackberry jello
Frozen spinach-garlic-canned tomato-celery top gratin

Wednesday

Corn bread waffles
Turkey bacon
Spinach frittata topped with cheddar
Pumpkin souffle

Thursday

Tortilla chips (made from corn tortillas)
Guacamole (using those 59-cent avocados from the ethnic market)
Homemade salsa
Refried beans, brown rice and cheese
Apple wedges
Tossed green salad (yep! from the garden!)

My husband's birthday was one week ago. He does like fish. And I hardly ever cook fish, as I really don't relish eating it. But for his birthday and Father's Day, I do make fish as a special favor to him. (aren't I swell?!)

For the fishcakes, I found a recipe online that used potatoes with the flaked fish. I had a hunch I would enjoy those more than cakes that use bread crumbs. So, that's the recipe that I worked from. My fishcakes also had eggs, onion powder, minced chives, mustard, salt and pepper mixed in with poached cod fillets and mashed potatoes.

I didn't feel like it was a very imaginative week for meals. A lot of celery sticks and apple wedges for fruit/veggies. But it all worked out. Everyone had plenty to eat, and somewhat balanced meals. Bonus -- eating simply kept my grocery spending under budget, once again. I'll post my spending recap for April, on Monday. (The month's not over yet. I could go hog-wild and spend, spend, spend tomorrow!)

Did you make anything that wasn't something you regularly like to eat, this week? Is it ever difficult balancing some family members's favorite foods with your own dislike for them?

Have a great weekend!

The April garden

With everything coming up so early this year, you'd think our vegetable garden would be in overdrive right now. Not exactly. This is the time of year that everything slows down, in my garden.

The fall planted kale, which has been our garden mainstay this spring, is about done. But, there are a few edibles just barely ready or almost ready.

baby lettuce, to the right, radishes, getting there, to the left

garlic and shallots, whose greens I can cut for flavor

crimson-stemmed chard (these red stems have a phytonutrient
 called betalain, useful as an anti-oxidant against LDLs)

Fordhook Swiss chard

chives are abundant, and the blossoms are just now ready
 for making vinegar or tossing in soups and salads

perennial herbs, sage, oregano, thyme, sorrel

lots and lots of rhubarb (had some in gelatin the last two nights)

two gorgeous lemon balm plants
Nice for tea, or chopped and added to salads and cakes, but also make
 nice ornamentals in the garden, with their bushy habit. I've got a third 
plant getting its start from  a division in a pot on the deck right now. 
Once established, the thirdone will join it's siblings in the sunken garden.

a trio of mints, pineapple mint, peppermint and spearmint
I pulled this pot on the deck, up against the door to the kitchen.
The winter was so mild that I never had to bring it into the garage.

Not enough to make meals from. But there is something fresh to use each day, now. And that's better than nothing, right?

Buttered bread crumbs: an inexpensive topping that makes my casseroles "pop"

I use this bread crumb topping recipe for many of the casseroles that I make, from vegetables in a cream sauce casseroles, to Mac and Cheese, to Mediterranean tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini casseroles. Even a pyrex baking dish of plain, canned green beans when topped with buttered bread crumbs, looks and tastes like way more effort and cost than it really is.

The funniest thing happens with casseroles with this crispy crumb topping.  The top inch of the casserole gets taken, leaving the unadorned casserole or veggies, beneath, for "the next guy".

Simple and inexpensive -- about 6 cents worth of butter, plus about 4 cents worth of bread, total of 10 slim cents for a topping which really makes casseroles pop.


Crispy buttered bread crumb topping

In a small skillet, melt a generous tablespoon of butter, over Medium heat.

Tear 1 slice of bread into a food processor and pulse till crumbs.

Toss bread crumbs in the melted butter with a pinch of salt. Stir while sauteing, for about 1 minute.

Sprinkle over the casserole.

Toast, uncovered, in a 350 degree F oven for about 20 minutes. Serve.

Birthday pie

Within a 1-month period, our family has 3 days of birthdays. Our daughters in mid-March, then mine in mid-April, followed by my husband's, just 6 days after mine. That's a lot of cake.

We still have some cake in the freezer from my daughters's birthday. For me, another birthday cake would be cake-overload. So, traditionally, I've made a pie for my husband's birthday. It's always lemon meringue, as that was his childhood favorite.

Lemon meringue pie works well for this time of year, as I usually have lots of eggs still from Easter week stock-up, and it's not dependent on availability of any particular fresh fruit, and I've made enough of them that it's an easy variety of pie for me. (It helps that I have a very reliable recipe.)

There is one other aspect about baking a birthday pie instead of a birthday cake that I really appreciate. A birthday cake from scratch can take me several hours, start to finish. A birthday lemon meringue pie can be knocked out in about 1 1/2 hours, start to finish. Yet, homemade pies have that reputation of "extra effort", put into their making. So, I get brownie points. My husband gets his childhood favorite pie. And we aren't staring down another slice of cake for the immediate future.

Do you always make cakes for birthdays, or do you do something else?

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for mid-April

Friday

Pumpkin soup (made from mashed potatoes in freezer, frozen pumpkin, frozen ham)
Scratch biscuits

Saturday (birthday dinner)

Chicken enchiladas (from freezer)
Mexican chicken and vegetable soup (from freezer)
Homemade corn tortillas chips (daughter made)
Scratch birthday cake

Sunday

Leftover enchiladas
Frozen green beans
Fruit salad (apple, banana, last of strawberries from making birthday cake)
Leftover cake

Monday

Leftover pumpkin soup
Pasta and veggie salad
French bread
Leftover cake

Tuesday

Hamburgers on
Homemade buns with first lettuce from the garden!
Apple wedges
Oven-roasted potatoes and carrots

Wednesday

Mexi-style beans and rice (with canned tomatoes and black olives)
Rhubarb-blackberry jello
Carrot sticks and dip

Thursday (simple dinner, spent the day in the garden)

Bean, ham and veggie soup
Apple wedges
Homemade bread with butter

Another week of simple meals. We had beautiful weather all week long, so I spent as much time as I could in the garden. Which meant not so much time for cooking. No matter -- dreary weather will return soon enough and I can spend more time in the kitchen, then.

You know, even on a warm day, coming into the house and breathing deep the aromas coming from soup in the crockpot, it really took me by surprise yesterday afternoon. I had a breif moment of thinking, "wow, who's cooking something? That smells amazing!" I had to laugh as it was my humble bean, ham and veggie soup.

I'm working at using up foods from the pantry and freezer these weeks. The fridge is constantly looking bare. But I think this is what it will take to get some organization taken care of in both the freezer and the pantry. The bonus is that to do this, I'm just not buying as much at the store this month, so I'll be saving a nice chunk of change, to put towards the stock up months to come.


Did you have a favorite meal this past week? What were the easy to make dishes on your menu?

Scottish shortbread "fingers" recipe

So this is my mom's recipe. I've made other recipes, but still always come back to this one. Maybe that's because it's the one that tastes how I remember shortbread. The official recipe is for double this amount, but I like doing just a half recipe, and even then I always freeze some. It's rich stuff.

Scottish shortbread fingers

1/2 cup butter, left at room temperature (70 degrees F) for about an hour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1  1/4 cups of all-purpose flour, sifted and leveled with a knife

In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. (I do this with a spoon.)

Stir in the flour. It will look kind of crumbly, like this.

Use your hands to form the dough into a ball, as well as you can. The warmth of your hands will further soften the butter helping it to hold together, somewhat. Put this dough and extra crumbs onto a sheet of waxed paper or parchment, and press it into a block, about 3/4 inch thick, like this. If the dough is just too crumbly and dry, you can microwave all of it in the bowl for about 8 seconds, then try and press together.

Keep working it, until it looks more like this.

Place a second sheet of waxed paper over the rectangle, and use a rolling pin to very gently roll the dough to about 1/4-inch thick. If it cracks, just press it back together.

Cut off uneven corners and edges, and with your fingers, press these scraps into areas needing more dough. Continue pressing the dough into a rectangle, about 6 inches by 9 inches, with straight edges. (I use a table knife to help get the edges straight, by pressing the edge of the knife against the sides of the dough.) The warmth of your hands will help in forming the dough.

Roll over lightly with waxed paper and rolling pin one more time, to smooth the top. Doesn't have to be perfect as it will even out in baking. If dough breaks at any point, just press it back together with your fingers.

With a long knife (like a bread knife), cut the dough into 24 pieces. The reason you use a long knife is you want to press the knife down into the dough, not draw it through the dough (keeps the pieces neater-looking, this way).

Prick the top surface, lightly, with a fork.

After the dough has been cut and pricked, use a thin, metal spatula (like an offset spatula if you have one) to transfer to an un-greased baking sheet, keeping shortbread pieces about 1/2 inch apart.

Sometimes my dough is just a tad too crumbly and a piece breaks while transferring it to the sheet. I just press it back together, as best as possible.

Bake in a preheated 300 degree F non-convection oven for 20 to 30 minutes, in the center of oven. You don't want the shortbread to brown, but want it to look dry on the surface. Begin checking at 20 minutes, then every 3 to 5 minutes from there. this batch baked for 25 minutes. When the end piece is just beginning to show some caramelization, they're done. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

My apologies that it took me all week to get this posted. I wanted to do more than just type the recipe, but wanted to show pictures of what it will look like at each stage in making the dough, so you wouldn't freak when your dough was more crumbly than any other cookie dough that you've made. And yesterday afternoon was the first chance I had to do some baking. I sure wish I could send some of this to you! Sharing the recipe is the next best thing, though, don't you think?

Anyways, enjoy, if you make it!

Do you know why cutting flowers from my own garden is a frugal thing for me?

these daffodils, lilacs and Solomon's seal
are the current bouquet on the kitchen table

The answer is not the obvious. It's not simply so that I don't go out and buy bouquets of flowers.

Our house will likely be our largest purchase, for my husband and myself. A house is meant to be lived in. It wouldn't make much sense to spend our hard-earned and saved money on a purchase that we didn't fully use.

By keeping our home as lovely as we can, we reap the benefits of homeownership, by actually spending more time in our home.

And when I bring cut flowers into the house from our garden, the beauty of those arrangements inspires me to keep the rest of our home as lovely as a garden bouquet. As a result, we find our home to be a very inviting place. We're taking full advantage of this major purchase of our home.

Have a girls' dress, but wanting a new apron

My daughter grew out of this dress years ago. The fabric was too cute to give away. Sometimes you just can't part with something. And, the dress itself was free from the annual clothing swap that our church used to host.

Anyway, I'd actually been out shopping for apron fabric earlier in the week. I wear aprons when I work at the charity teas, at our church every month. This past Saturday was April's tea, and I wanted a new apron for that event. My other aprons are just not terribly pretty or flattering, ones given to me as promotional items. So, a new and pretty apron was on my list.

At the fabric store, I just didn't find any fabric that I really liked. And then I remembered this dress, sitting in the stash of sewing fabrics. I talked with my daughter about the dress, and she said I could use it. This was after class on Friday afternoon. While she made the biscuits for dinner, I made the apron.

Here's the dress, a sleeveless, gathered skirt attached to bodice. When you look at the dress, you can see it has the possibility to become a half-apron, pretty easily, using part of the bodice for the waistband, leaving it attached to the gathered skirt.

I turned the dress over and cut up the back seam.

On both sides of the cut seam, I cut off 4.5 inch strips, to use to make ties.

Then I cut the bodice off, about 4 inches above the gathered skirt, leaving some of the bodice attached, to serve as the waistband.

After, pressing under the edges of the long slit up the back, I machine topstitched it down, creating a finished edge to the sides of the apron.

Here's the 4-inch portion of the bodice, still attached to the gathered skirt.

I turned the portion of the bodice under, and topstitched it into place, for a waistband.

These are the strips I removed from the back of the dress. I turned these into ties, by folding each in half lengthwise, right sides together, stitching, and turning right side out, leaving one of the short edges unstitched.

After turning the ties right side out, I tucked the unfinished end into the edge of the waistband on the apron, then topstitched into place.

And here's the finished apron. It's on the long side, so I may take up the hem. Bt I wore it as is on Saturday, and received many, many compliments. All in all, it took me about 1  1/2 hours, start to finish.

This is the sort of project that I find very satisfying. It was totally free to make. It was something I had wanted. It was quick and easy, under 2 hours, from start to finish. And I could use it right away.

My birthday cake -- and a new-to-me type of frosting

This was gooooood.

Have you ever made a Swiss meringue buttercream frosting before? I'd not made this kind, so it was a brand new experience, complete with learning curve.


I baked the cake layers, a cocoa powder Devil's Food cake recipe of my mom's. I wrapped the layers in plastic wrap and kept them in the fridge until Friday. I hadn't settled on a frosting and filling for it, but raspberry jam between the layers, and a topping of a white chocolate ganache, with some fresh raspberries sure did sound yummy. But currently, I lack fresh raspberries, raspberry jam, and whipping cream needed to make ganache. I did not want to go to the store to spend $2.50 on a pint of whipping cream, $3.50 on a teensy basket of raspberries, and another $2 or so on a jar of raspberry jam -- not when raspberries will be ripe in my garden in just a few months! Call me cheap.

Friday, I went on my morning walk, and decided to brainstorm various cake fillings/frostings that I could make with what I have on hand. That's when I remembered seeing a couple of pints of frozen strawberries in the freezer. Hmmm, now there's a possibility. And the bags of semi-sweet chocolate chips could make a nice drizzle for the top of the cake. Once home, I googled strawberry cake fillings. And that's when I stumbled upon a type of cake frosting that I'd never even heard of before.

Swiss meringue buttercream. What could that be? And could I do that on a first try at home? It helps that this cake would only be consumed by my family. If it went terribly wrong, we're a pretty un-picky lot, and would eat it, anyway. What's to lose but some butter, a few egg whites and 1 of those containers of frozen strawberries?

So, I made a strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream. The thing about Swiss meringue buttercream is it's a finicky little dickens. It seems to like everything just so. Basically, it's a sweetened meringue (egg whites that have been heated in a double-boiler, along with sugar and then whipped till stiff), combined with lots of butter, then flavored. The meringue part went well. And the first part of the butter went well. It was looking good . . . that is, until it wasn't. Suddenly, it looked like cottage cheese. Not at all like the fluffy frosting I saw in photos on the web. What went wrong? I googled lots of phrases trying to find a fix. After several attempts at fixing this mess, one of the fixes worked. Had I thrown in the towel 30 minutes, or 20 minutes or even 10 minutes earlier, I never would have arrived at this delicious, creamy, strawberry frosting. Thankfully, I didn't give up. My tenacity is what gets me through a lot of tight situations. I persevere and persevere and persevere. I figure, if I have the time, I can surely find the patience to keep working at a job.

The end result with my Swiss meringue buttercream efforts was a buttery-light filling and frosting, which retains it's shape beautifully in between the cake layers and on the outside of the cake, like a firm mousse. It slices beautifully. And it's not terribly sweet. I would definitely say we enjoyed this more than traditional buttercream.

I had also been thinking about a chocolate drizzle over the strawberry frosting. I used chocolate chips, melted along with a bit of shortening, until drizzle-able.  After cooling for a minute (so as not to melt the SMB frosting), I poured the chocolate over the top. I had a bit of leftover melted chocolate, which was about the perfect amount for making some chocolate curls on a flat baking sheet.

One would think the cake would be done now, right? In my mind, I kept seeing fresh strawberries on top of that cake. So, I splurged, and bought 1 pound of strawberries for $2 at Albertson's. And that was my total "outside of my home stock" purchases for this cake, $2. I splurged that $2 because I wanted this cake to be visually appealing, to me. It might not have mattered to anyone else in the family. But as it was my birthday, how I wanted it to look mattered more. You all probably know, now, that I often like things to look "pretty". I think that's just the way I'm wired.

So, that was my birthday cake for this year. I will definitely try making this kind of frosting again in the future. It was delicious. And as decorated cakes go, I also think, beautiful.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for a birthday week, making it easy on the cook!

Friday

Stuffed bell peppers (stuffed with taco meat found in the freezer, topped with tomato puree and baked)
Brown rice
Celery sticks and bleu cheese dressing
Biscotti

Saturday (we've had such a string of glorious weather, that we brought out the patio chairs and fire ring to sit around, while eating dinner)

Homemade pizza, topped with leftover taco meat from Friday's stuffed peppers, the tops of those peppers, chopped, black olives, as well as marinara sauce from the freezer and mozzarella cheese
Apple wedges
Roasted marshmallows for dessert

Sunday

Mini pigs in blankets (Lil smokies wrapped in scratch biscuit dough)
Sweet potato fries (leftover in the freezer from Dollar Tree, my daughters's birthday dinner)
Apple wedges
Frozen green beans with toasted almond slivers
Brownies (daughters baked from scratch)

Monday

Meatloaf (from freezer), topped with leftover pizza sauce, the last green pepper, black olives, heated in oven
Mashed potatoes (last of the shriveled potatoes from November's stock-up, with cream cheese, onion powder, garlic powder, chicken fat, chives)
Cabbage, kale and celery slaw
Assortment of brownies, biscotti and toffee bars for dessert

Tuesday

Frozen bean burger patties
Leftover mashed potatoes, leftover rice or whole wheat bread
Kale sauteed in ham fat, with ham "cracklins" as topping
Oven-roasted sweet potato chunks
Shortbread cookies

Wednesday

Scrambled eggs with chopped ham from the freezer added
Carrot, raisin and peanut salad
French bread with rosemary, garlic olive oil drizzled over slices
Shortbread cookies

Thursday

French bread pizza (using extra bread from Wednesday's baking and frozen pizza sauce)
Cabbage, kale and celery slaw
Oven-roasted carrots



So, you may have noticed that this past weeks meals were less labor-intensive for me. (Or maybe that doesn't come through in my post -- trust me, much less labor-intensive.) This has been my gift to myself for the week. A week of easier meal-prep. You see, tomorrow is my birthday. A couple of weeks ago, I began preparing extras and freezing them, just for this week. It's been very nice to not have to cook as much this past week. Of course, by the end of the weekend, my freezer will be empty of pre-made meals, and I'll need to return to cooking fill meals daily, again. BTW, my birthday dinner is also all taken care of. I found some Mexican chicken soup in the freezer, as well as a casserole dish of chicken enchiladas! Both were good the first time around, so I'm sure they'll be delicious tomorrow! Happy birthday, me!

What was on your menu for the week? Was it a wintry menu (due to cold temps in your area) or a spring-like one? This time of year it seems that I can go either way with the menu. It's not hot enough to not want to use the stove, and not consistently cold enough to necessitate a hot soup to warm everyone up.

Have a great weekend!

There *is* something that I'm picky about the brand

Most of the time, I could care less about brands. I'll eat any brand of mayo, any brand of tomato paste, any brand of soy milk -- I'm just not picky about brands, for the most part.

But there is one item that I am selective with. That's olive oil.

I don't know if you remember a couple of years back, but there were allegations that some olive oils weren't really olive oil. This situation got me looking into olive oil and how to improve my chances that what I'm buying is, indeed, olive oil.

certification and harvest date on the back label

From what I read, the 2 best indicators that an olive oil was legit are these: 1) the bottle is stamped with a "harvest date", and 2) the bottle has a quality seal, such as the California Olive Oil Council, which certifies the oil has passed some chemical analysis.

So, off I went in search of an olive oil that met these 2 criteria. I only found 1 brand of olive oil in my grocery store which had a harvest date stamped on the bottle, California Olive Ranch. And they also had the seal from the COOC, mentioned above. So that is what I bought a couple of years ago.

I brought it home, and was pleasantly surprised by the flavor. It actually had a distinct flavor to it. It's described as having a "floral, buttery and fruity aroma" with hints of green apple flavor. To me, it tastes a bit like an oak cask. I found it very appealing. You know how it is. You find something that tastes different to you than all of the rest. So, this is my preferred olive oil.

I've stuck with this particular brand for several years now. When the old bottle was nearly empty, I began searching around for a favorable price on this brand. I found that at World Market. I had seen this olive oil on sale, there, before. So, I just waited. And voila, as hoped, on sale, 25% off. It is a "splurge" item for me, at about $4.25 per pint.

Like I said, there's not a whole lot that I'm picky about, but with olive oil, I really am.


To keep my olive oil tasting fresh for as long as possible, I store the bulk of it in the fridge, pouring out only about 2-3 ounces at a time, into a small, dark glass jar with lid, to store in a cool, dark cupboard, for ease of use. My last bottle remained fresh-tasting until the very end, about 8 months post the "best by" date.

Do you have a food item about which brand you are picky?

Scottish shortbread, made with my 1/4 Scottish hands

I was out running errands yesterday, and at one of the stores, they had individual packages of shortbread cookies for 99 cents. There were just 2 cookies in each package. I was so hungry at that moment. I nearly bought a package. This was my second to the last stop, so I knew I'd be home somewhat soon -- not a hunger emergency. But I'd also been craving shortbread for a couple of weeks. I had it on my to-bake list for a while. But just didn't get around to actually baking any.

Even though 99 cents is not a lot of money, it just seemed more than the shortbread was worth. After all, shortbread is easy to make. It only takes 3 ingredients, butter, sugar and flour. And I could whip some up in under an hour, if I could just make myself wait that long.

I did resist buying the shortbread. And when I got home, I did make a batch. You see, for that 99 cents, I could make enough shortbread for the whole family, plus some to tuck away in the freezer, for my next shortbread craving. Of course, there would be no nice, red plaid packaging. But I think I could live with that sacrifice.

I do sometimes buy little treats for myself. But I try to limit those treats to items that I can't easily make at home. Like croissants. I once did make croissants at home. But they were so time-consuming to make, that I didn't feel they were worth my time to make from scratch.


Of course, I had to cost out the batch of shortbread that I made, just to make myself feel better.

1 stick of butter -- 49 cents
1  1/4 cup of flour -- 13 cents
1/4 cup sugar -- 5 cents
oven usage -- 7 cents

The full cost to bake a batch of shortbread (24 pieces) -- 74 cents. Yep! That was worth it.

Sometimes, saving money isn't the thing that motivates me to make changes

Do you know why I'm drinking way more water and way less coffee these days? Here's a shocker, it isn't to save money!

One day, I looked in the mirror and noticed this skin hanging down on my neck. Yep! I think I'm developing "turkey neck". Where did this come from? It really just crept up on me. Anyways, I am downing the water and nixing the post-morning coffee. Because water can help your skin's appearance to improve if you're on the dehydrated side. Hey, I'm willing to give water a try. It's monumentally cheaper than a neck-lift.

But, I'm not buying bottled water. I understand that not everyone has decent tap water, readily available. And if that's the case, I'm not knocking your choice to drink bottled water. But for me, we have good-tasting tap water in our area. And the price can't be beat. We pay less than half a cent for a gallon of water, here. If you triple that, to account for wastewater fees, it's still just 1  1/2 cents per gallon, or less than a 10th of a cent for an 8 ounce glass.

I do use a filter for our drinking water. It's installed in the fridge. I replace these every 9 months, at a cost of about $25 a replacement. That works out to $2.77 per month, or about 9 cents per day. We are all drinking a lot of this filtered water -- including myself, perhaps as much as 15 glasses per day, on average. So, dividing the cost of the filter by the water consumed (in glasses), each 8 ounce glass of water costs about a half-cent to filter. Our "complete" cost of drinking our filtered tap water, then is still under a penny per 8 ounces. In comparison, Wal-Mart sells Aquafina bottled water in a 32-pack of 16.9 oz bottles for $13, or 2.4 cents per OUNCE. That's 19.2 cents per 8 ounce portion, roughly 20 times what it costs to drink filtered, tap water from home. Oh wow! That's ridiculous!

Do you know what's really mind-boggling for me? During the recent recession, bottled water consumption did NOT drop off significantly (the figure is about a 3% cutback in bottled water consumption for the years of 2008-2009). And it's not surprising that Americans drink the most bottled water of any country in the world.

I used to think it was a sort of status-y thing, to be seen carrying around your bottled water, like carrying around that Starbuck's cup. Now I just think it's a mindless consumer thing.

So, I may be improving the appearance of my skin. And I'm certainly helping my body and not hurting it, by drinking more water and less coffee. As a bonus, I'm saving money, as tap water is way cheaper than coffee. Time to go fill up my glass!

Because really good food starts with. Really. Good. Food

I top-dressed the strawberry beds last week. This was the most sickly of
 the beds. I'm hoping the top-dressing will help in the rejuvenation process.

Do you remember the first really amazing strawberry you ever tasted? I remember mine. It was picked directly from the garden. I couldn't believe that this delicious, sweet, flavorful berry was related to those other things I'd always bought at the supermarket.

Being frugal with the grocery budget isn't just about buying the cheapest foods available. It's about obtaining the best foods possible within one's budget. Many of us do things like keep a garden or make our own soup stock from bones. These activities not only save us money, but they yield really delicious foods. Berries that taste like berries were meant to taste. And chicken stock that tastes just like chicken stock is supposed to taste.

We sometimes find ourselves fooled by the manufacturers, fooled into thinking "they" know what chicken stock is supposed to taste like, or the cheese sauce on boxed mac and cheese is how cheese should taste. And then we make something from scratch and wonder why ours doesn't taste like the manufacturer's version. Why doesn't grape candy taste anything like grapes? Why does strawberry jello only remotely taste like strawberries? Why does canned chicken-noodle soup taste more like salty broth than chicken?

I began growing a garden to save money and make sure we were eating enough healthy foods. What I found was that freshly harvested vegetables and fruits taste amazing. And to take this even further, I discovered that fresh apples, purchased or homegrown, taste way better than apple, fruit-flavored snacks.

I'm an accidental foodie, you could say. I didn't set out to prefer really fresh produce, or scratch-baked breads and treats. I set out to save money on groceries. I just discovered, somewhere along the way, that these foods taste really good.

Do you remember the homemade ice cream I made with my surplus of whipping cream, back in December? I had made a quart of chocolate ice cream, to save for my daughters's birthday in the freezer, over winter. This was some of THE best chocolate ice cream that I have ever tasted, made with real whipping cream, whole milk, real vanilla extract, cocoa powder and sugar. It was a bargain to make, and turned out to be as good as any "premium" ice cream available to purchase.

Because I have a small grocery budget, I need to dedicate almost all of my budget to really good, whole foods. I don't sweat that organics and free-range are not in my budget. I buy the very best foods available that do fit into my budget.

And as I am able, I go to the effort and work to keep a large garden. Why? Because really good food begins with really.good.food.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for the first week of April

(no photos this week. My camera is on loan to a daughter who is taking a photography class this quarter. I'm happy to loan it to her. We've agreed to share it for the time being.)

Friday

French bread pizza, on a loaf of homemade French bread from the freezer, with green peppers and black olives for toppings (made extra pizza/pasta sauce for Saturday and for the freezer)
Frozen green beans
Toffee Bars

Saturday

Meatloaf (made double and froze half)
Polenta squares
Leftover pasta/pizza sauce
Kale sauteed in ham fat
Rhubarb-blackberry pie

Sunday

Black beans, rice, peppers and canned tomatoes
Carrot sticks and dip
Tortilla chips and salsa

Monday

Black bean burgers, topped with 1000 Island dressing
Sweet potato oven fries
Cabbage, carrot and kale slaw

Tuesday

Ham and bean soup from freezer
Pumpkin muffins
Carrot and celery sticks

Wednesday

Black beans and rice from freezer ( had it in the crockpot to warm while I worked outside all afternoon)
Strawberry, rhubarb and orange gelatin salad (using orange juice, orange zest, cream cheese, frozen strawberries and fresh cut rhubarb, stewed)
Pumpkin souffle (from frozen pumpkin)

Thursday

Cream of kale soup (made Wednesday while I made dinner, using 2 baked potatoes from the fridge, a large bunch of garden kale, ham fat, ham stock, some onion, shallots, garlic, nutmeg, flour to thicken, salt and only about 1 cup of milk so I can have some if I take a pill)
Leftover gelatin salad
Leftover pumpkin muffins

Another easy dinner, so I can work outside all day.

So I bought this handy-dandy tool in November, which I am really finding useful. It's one of those stick blenders that you can put into a pot of soup and whirl away to puree. I really wanted one for years, but thought I wouldn't use it enough to make it worthwhile. As it turns out, it's one of my favorite tools now. It's easier to clean than a stand blender, and far easier to use for pureeing soups. The blending part detaches from the motor part. I can quickly wash the blending part, and set to dry on the counter before putting in a cupboard for storage. The motor part stores in the drawer with my hand-mixer. I still use the stand mixer, and the food processor for other foods. The stick blender didn't replace those two, but gave me an easier option specifically for pureed soups, sauces, and gravy that turned out lumpy. I used it on Wednesday, when I made Thursday's soup. When I think of all the times I made pureed soup before, and had to wait for it to cool enough to pour into the blender or food processor, puree, then pour back into the pot to reheat -- the stick blender is such a time saver. I bought it on sale, and used it as part of my minimum spend to get a deal on a turkey, just before Thanksgiving. I am hoping it will continue to work well for many years.

Favorite food this week -- I think the gelatin salad was a big hit. I cut some fresh rhubarb and was looking for a way to use it that seemed new to us. I came across a recipe for rhubarb and strawberry jello, that also used orange juice and orange zest. I didn't follow this recipe, but it gave me a springboard for adapting my creamy rhubarb jello salad. Quite delicious, and it used up some shriveling frozen strawberries from last year's garden.

What was your favorite meal this past week? Do you have a favorite kitchen tool that you think is worth the expense and space to own?

The gigantic oil jug became a pantry storage container

I buy cooking oil in these 35-lb jugs, at the restaurant supply. One jug lasts about 9-10 months. They come packaged in an outer cardboard box. In the past, I've tossed the cardboard and the plastic jug into the recycling bin.

Last week, I had one of those "silly me" moments, "why haven't I used these jugs for storage before now?" At the very least, they would make good surplus rain water storage, or a large container for storing compost tea, both for the garden.

And I then I thought of all of the foods that I buy in large sacks that make the pantry look untidy. I recently bought a 50-lb sack of brown rice. Hmmmm

side by side with a 1-gallon vinegar jug, to give you an idea of the size

So I cleaned out the jug with hot soapy water and white vinegar. Several rinses later and it felt clean-enough inside. I allowed it to air dry for a day and then filled it up.

About 30 lbs of long-grain rice fit inside, and now my brown rice looks neat, tidy and is in an airtight storage container.

I can hardly wait for my new oil jug to be used up and empty!

I am working my frugal muscles, these days. I had a coupon for Storables for 20% off any purchase. I had thought to go there and buy a container or two for the pantry. This one was free! I may still use that coupon for shelving for the pantry. But at least I saved on the container.