Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for late September

Friday

Leftover pumpkin-bean soup
Whole wheat bread and butter
Fresh apples
Brownies (using this recipe, but baking in 350 F oven for about 22 minutes or until done)

Saturday

More leftover pumpkin-bean soup
Kale and cheddar biscuits (standard scratch drop biscuit recipe, with fine-chopped kale, onion powder and grated cheddar added to dough, then after baking, brushing with garlic butter)
Apple wedges
Brownies

Sunday

Brown rice, topped with
Black beans, ground beef, canned tomatoes, beet greens, onions and seasonings
Brownies

Monday

Leftover black beans, beef, vegetables and rice (last night's dinner combined into a casserole)
Fresh tomatoes on the side

Tuesday

Leftover black bean and rice casserole, topped with cheddar
Fruit salad of apples, pears, bananas, dried cranberries, with a peanut butter and jelly salad dressing

Wednesday

Roasted turkey
Gravy
Mashed potatoes
Canned green beans
Fresh tomatoes

Thursday

Leftover turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes
Puree of carrots, onions and pumpkin
Apple wedges
Tofu spring rolls (my husband brought a few home)
Pumpkin snack cake with cream cheese icing


So this is the first week that I've posted a menu reflecting a whole lotta leftovers. It's working for me, and no one is complaining. I haven't heard anything on my blood work, yet. My head is throbbing today. My neck hurts. Cooking sounds like the last thing I want to do.

The turkey should last through the weekend, and give us some frozen leftovers, as well. I think frozen turkey tastes best if it's sliced and frozen the first day or maybe second after roasting, instead of allowing it to linger in the fridge for a few days before freezing. So, last night, I sliced a good share of it and have it stashed for future meals. It'll make picking apart the turkey over the weekend, an easier chore, too.

The pumpkin snack cake is a really great recipe, and very apropos to the season. The recipe is versatile, and has a few variations. You mix the cake in the baking dish. It has no eggs and no milk. I'll type it up over the weekend and post it for you, as I really think it's a good one for quick and easy meals, with or without icing. (And this being Cheap & Cheerful -- a nice cake certainly cheers me up!)

I have a new favorite tea that I've been sipping. It's ordinary black tea, with a few whole cloves, some orange juice and a bit of honey (not to be confused with Bit o' Honey -- but that might be tasty, too!).

Thank you so much for all of your nice and thoughtful comments the other day. I can't tell you how much I appreciate them. I wasn't at all expecting such an outpouring of kindness. Thank you! And to those of you struggling with your own health issues, I really empathize and wish you well. It just stinks to not feel well!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I'll be back on Monday!

A frugal-meister's coffee maker

What do you do if your coffee maker totally bites the dust?

This frugal-meister improvises with what's on hand: one carafe, one funnel, paper coffee filters, and a kettle to boil water.

When undertaking any improvisational technique, there are drawbacks, like time, effort and maybe some clumsiness.

But the pluses of improvising, like this, can be very compelling.

• One, there's no outlay of cash to achieve your goal. (In this case, some good coffee.) 
• Two, the tools and accessories used can be put back to their original uses, requiring no extra storage for the instrument they're replacing. (For my kitchen, the counter top has a clean vibe going on.) 
• And three, I can tweak my process and even improve on the resulting outcome. (I'm making better coffee by getting the water to a hotter temperature, and keeping it better, by not sitting on a hot burner, but instead in an insulated flask.)

And this is just how I've been making my coffee, lately.

First obstacle -- getting the filter to tuck neatly into the funnel.

Cone-style coffee filters are more expensive than basket-style. But cone-style is what fits, best, in the funnel. So, I make my own cone-style out of a basket-style, with just a couple of quick folds.

I flatten the coffee filter into a circle. Then fold the filter in half, and then half again, creating a wedge shape.

The folded filter now fits in the funnel, point down. I put both the funnel and filter into the mouth of an insulated carafe (a mason jar or thermos also works).

The cone-shaped filter has 2 "pockets" which can hold grounds. I fill one of these filter-pockets with coffee grounds.

When my kettle of water comes to a boil, I slowly pour it over the coffee grounds that are in the paper filter, and allow to drip through. Voila, one pot of coffee.

I share this because you never know when you could be without your coffee maker, like there's a power outage and your electric coffee maker doesn't work, or, you're camping or picnicking, or, you don't have a working coffee maker (remember those college days with minimal kitchen equipment?). As long as you can boil water, you can make your morning brew.


Now it's your turn to share. How or what have you improvised, using what you have on hand? Doesn't it make you feel awesome when you can cobble together a substitute for a piece of equipment, a tool, or appliance that you've grown accustomed to using?

Changing how I do dinners, to meet "new" demands

When the old way of doing things no longer serves its purpose, then changes have to happen.

I haven't been feeling well, for many months. My energy is just gone most days. I'm still waiting on the results of some tests. For the time being, I need to make changes to some ordinary tasks, like dinner prep.

Growing up, my mom prepared a fresh, new meal, every evening. From a diner's point of view, this is very appealing. You get a new dinner every evening. Meals are freshly cooked, retaining color and flavor. And there's lots of variety in each week. From the cook's perspective, this takes a whole lot of time and energy.

So, I'm taking notes from some of you. I am cooking once, and serving 3, 4 or 5 times, and, in the same week. My Cheap & Cheerful Menus will reflect this. I get out my largest stock pots and cook BIG. And I cook EASY, like rice and beans, EASY, or a vat of soup, EASY. Complicated meals are completely out of the question right now.

If I had freezer space, I could freeze most of the servings, and have more variety on a weekly basis. For now, with my limited freezer space, we're just dealing with a lot of repetition. However, I do vary the side dishes, when possible.

The good news is, this is working. I am able to give myself more time off from physical work, as well as spare some time for appointments and various self-help practices.

I hope to get the results of those tests very soon. And then I can go from there and get on the road to a solid recovery.

Sometimes, food has to be just food.

Have you ever had to change your "old ways" to meet "new" demands? Life is a challenge, isn't it?
What are your favorite Cooking Big meals? Soups and casseroles are always good candidates for Cooking Big. Do you have a favorite soup or casserole recipe, that translates well for large amounts?

Feathering my nest on the cheap -- dinnerware

Is there anything more thrilling to a frugal shopper than a stellar deal on something they've already got on their must-have list?

I think not!

You know my passion for dinnerware. I love plates. I love bowls. I love tea cups and mugs and platters and serving dishes. I love it all! It helps our budget that I've stuck with the same patterns that I chose 35 years ago.

But pieces get chipped, broken and crackled. And my dinner parties get larger and larger. So, from time to time, I need to replace items or acquire additional pieces to expand our entertaining capability.

I could buy individual pieces through a traditional retail store, department and discount stores, shop vintage resale stores, or,

keep my eyes and mind open to bargain opportunities in thrift stores!


To give you a ballpark on the dinnerware savings I typically find in thrift stores:

• a soup/cereal bowl in Johnson Bros. Friendly Village pattern (the one I use fall and winter) retails, full price, for $12.50
• same soup/cereal bowl can be found on Amazon or in Marshall's for $6.99 to $9.99 -- good, yes?
• shopping the vintage resale places in our neighboring vintage district, I can find these bowls for about $5 to $6 each, better,
• or best (short of someone out right giving me what I need), the same soup/cereal bowl in Goodwill for $1.99

I realize that there's a bit of an ICK-factor with some things from thrift stores. But with dishes -- they go into the dishwasher and get sanitized in my own home, to my specifications, before I even use them. Think about it, you eat with forks, bowls, plates, glasses, mugs that have been used by complete strangers, every single time you eat in a restaurant! And you have no control, whatsoever, as to the cleaning and sanitizing of restaurant dinnerware. That's a pretty good argument against any case of cooties I imagine that I'll contract, by buying thrift store dinnerware, don't you think?

Now, you wanna see the dinnerware that I bought in August and September at my local thrift stores? Here it all is:

4 bread and butter plates, 5 soup/cereal bowls, 1 salad plate, 2 fruit saucers, 2 mugs and 1 tea cup. I paid between 99 cents and $1.99 per piece, spending a total of $25.93. All of these pieces, combined, retail for over $200.00, full price. My savings, by buying my dishes at thrift stores this summer, instead of shopping retail stores, was 87.5% off of retail prices! Woo hoo!!!

So, there is a drawback to thrift shopping for dinnerware. I can't just walk into any thrift store and expect to find pieces in my pattern. Many times, I scour the dinnerware section, and come up empty-handed. But I do know that eventually the dinnerware that I'm looking for, will show up. And I buy the pieces that interest me, then.

Just another feather for my warm and cozy nest!

An FYI -- when thrifting, I came across a lot of Christmas items. Now would be a very good time to check your local thrift stores for those Christmas-themed gifts or dinnerware, while everyone else is focusing on Hallowe'en and autumn.

Would you believe a cashmere sweater for 99 cents?

I know. It sounds unbelievable. But believe it. This cashmere sweater, for 99 cents at St. Vincent de Paul, a couple of Sundays ago.

Every time my daughters and I go to SVdP, for their Sunday 99 cent clothing deal, I make a quick pass by the sweater section. I've been scouring the racks all summer, for a cashmere sweater or two.

The only real drawback to cashmere is the cleaning. However, I was doing some reading, and apparently, dry cleaning is not the best way to clean cashmere sweaters. It's just the easiest.

Very gentle hand-washing, in a basin of 85 degree F water, with a bit of baby shampoo, is what several experts recommend. Rinse in clean water, avoiding twisting of the sweater. Press the water out of the sweater (don't wring), and lay flat on a terry towel. Roll the sweater up in the towel, to press additional water out. Then, unroll, and lay the sweater flat, and pull into shape on a horizontal sweater drying rack. Allow to air dry.

I've done this sort of thing with my cashmere sweaters before. I just didn't know it was the best way to clean cashmere. Who knew?! And now I can feel better about some of my cheapskate ways!

Making a Hallowe'en pillow for free

This is another piece of our front porch autumn decor. Super fast, and cost nothing, not a single extra cent.

1 outdoor pillow (which I already have)

plus 1 trick or treat bag (my kids are too old for trick or treating, but we still have the bags. This one came to us for free several years ago.)

The pillow tucked into the TOT bag

The top edges tucked over the top of the pillow, and down inside the back of the TOT bag.  Voila, one Hallowe'en pillow, "made" in 3 minutes, for zero cost. When Hallowe'en is over, the pillow goes back with the other deck pillows, and the TOT bag, goes back in the trunk with other Hallowe'en stuff.

Hey! I'm busy with my daughters this week and next. This is the very end of their summer break, and both are done with summer jobs. So, the 3 of us are hanging out, doing some fun stuff, collecting everything they need for the school year, and enjoying our time together. I'll be back on the 26th of September. Have a great week!

Collecting carrot seeds from my garden

Summer of 2015, I collected seeds from a parsley plant in my garden, enough for about 5 years of parsley.

At the end of 2015's summer garden, I left one carrot in the ground in my garden's carrot patch, to go to seed this summer. Carrots are biennials, meaning it takes 2 seasons for flowers to develop.

Over winter, the green top of this one carrot died back. In spring, it put on new growth. And I left it there, to flower. All summer long, this carrot's flowers have been developing seeds for me.

This past weekend, I clipped the most dried seed head. (When the seed head turns tan, and the seeds look dried, that's when it's time to gently cut the seed head from the plant.)

If you look at it up close, you can see there are hundreds of seeds on one seed head. And that one carrot produced 7 seed heads. Carrot seeds remain vigorous in their germination for about 3 years. Some carrot seeds will still germinate beyond that 3 year mark, but the percentage of viable seeds will decline.

I shook the seed head over an open paper bag. The remaining seeds will continue to dry, with the seed head, upside down and inside the paper bag, just sitting on my desk.

In a couple of weeks, I'll rub the remaining seeds off the seed head, and store this paper bag, inside my seed container, for planting next spring.


(If you live where weather is severe enough for carrots to rot in the ground over winter, here's an old-timer's tip for collecting carrot seeds. Dig up 5 or 6 of your best carrots, being very careful not to bruise the skins. Clip the green tops to 1-inch of the top of the carrot. Store in moistened sand in a cellar, until springtime planting. Replant the carrots, and allow to flower. Collect seeds, as per above.)

I choose a different vegetable or two each year to collect seeds from. It's easy. It's thrifty. And it fits my idea of fun.

Autumn decorations from Michael's vs Autumn decorations from Dollar Tree

On Saturday, I was out running multiple errands in the area with my daughters, and we all wanted to stop at Michael's. We each had our coupons (from mailers, as well as online rewards program emails), and we each had a couple of items we were interested in.

I've been longing to add decor to our front entry for autumn. One of my daughters hit it when she said, "this is your way of making up for summer coming to an end". That is a good part of why I like to decorate seasonally.

In Michael's, I could feel myself wanting to go wild with the spending. I need colored leaves, flower stems, faux squash, corn stalks, bales of hay. . .I need it all!

After much planning, and much mental mathematics, I selected these flower stems. they were on sale at 50% off, so I thought I was getting a great deal. Total spent -- $16.92

Driving on to our next errand, I realized that I should have checked Dollar Tree first. Kicking myself for not doing that only left me with a sore shin while trying to drive. I vowed to compare the floral stems at Dollar Tree, when we stopped in later that afternoon.

And these are the flowers that I found at Dollar Tree. Total spent -- $7.66

Okay, so they're not exact replicas of what Michael's carries, but they give the same autumnal "feel" to my entry decor. And as they'll be outside in the elements, I'm glad to not spend so much money on decorative pieces.  When my front entry decor transitions over to Christmas decor, I'll bring these inside to store until next year.

The differences between Michael's floral stems and Dollar Tree's are not significant to my needs. the Michael's stems are longer, and fuller. The length of stems didn't matter for my use. And the fullness was made up by purchasing an extra stem in each flower-type.

My plan was to put the mums into a pot (still to do), and the sunflowers into a basket. While at St Vincent de Paul's on Sunday, I found this great grapevine cornucopia for 99 cents. Doesn't get much better than that -- a great autumn piece, and only 99 cents!

Does anybody here receive the Victoria online newsletter? If you do, then last week you may have seen this photo:

It's gorgeous, isn't it? This is the cover for October's issue (only it's reversed on the magazine cover) While my front entry won't look nearly as lush and full, this is the feel I'm aiming for. In the next couple of weeks, I'll be adding decor details to my entry, but on a budget. I'll share as I go.

I'll swing by Michael's while out this morning, and return those original floral stems. I saved myself $9.26.

I've neglected my rhubarb for a good share of summer

And what happens when you don't harvest the rhubarb? It grows taller and taller!!!

Last week, I got out to the garden and cut about 2/3 of the stalks. I left enough for a few more pies this summer and early fall.

But I wasn't relishing the thought of hand-chopping all of that rhubarb. I'm right-handed, and my right hand has developed some arthritis, making using a knife for extended periods kind of painful. It's ordinarily not a big deal, and I don't have pain, for the most part. So, I'm not complaining.

But all that rhubarb. Ugh! then I thought, "gee, I have a food processor, and these sort of situations are really where kitchen appliances shine, so why not use it for the chopping?!" And that's what I did. I fed the cleaned stalks through the FP, using the slicing disk. And in about 5 minutes, it was all chopped. If I'd chopped all of this rhubarb by hand, not only would it have been painful, but it would have taken a good half hour or so.

I decided to just cook all of this rhubarb into sauce for use later in fall. I got out my largest stock pot, and when all was cooked, I had 10 quarts of rhubarb sauce!

Nothing wasted, my work was minimized, and now I have some already made fruit sauce for meals this fall.

I ask myself why I don't always use the FP for these jobs. I think I have it in my mind that it's going to be more work to use it and wash it afterwards. But actually, I put most of the FP through the dish washer, so there's no extra work at all. Just one of those silly misconceptions about just how.hard.something.is.going.to.be. NOT!

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for the week, plus my components for a "cheap" supper

Wednesday's dinner: black bean burger, brown rice, kale, fried purple potatoes,
tomato slices, plum cobbler topped with vanilla yogurt

Any meal of the day can easily tank the food budget. But for our family, I've found the "big meal", dinner/supper has the potential to be our most expensive meal of the day. In many homes, this meal is often the one that contains a meat entree. It usually comes with a couple of side dishes. And if it has dessert, that's tacking on an extra $ amount for those butter-rich, sugary calories. Plus, if I were to use very many convenience foods, well there goes the budget. So if there's focus anywhere in my meal planning, it's always the dinners/suppers.

Components of a cheap meal

Inexpensive protein source

• eggs
• dried beans
• less expensive meats, like dark meat chicken, whole turkey, bone-in ham, ground beef
• the relatively cheap nuts/seeds -- sunflower seeds, peanuts/peanut butter

Inexpensive starch

• whole, fresh potatoes (not boxed potato dishes)
• non-instant rice
• homemade, scratch bread products, like biscuits, yeast bread, dumplings, or pastry
• cheaper pasta (I look for sales on whole wheat pasta, or buy white pasta at Dollar Tree. Pasta can be an expensive starchy side dish, so we don't do these more than a couple of meals per week. Rice price per pound, about 40 cents for me. Pasta price per pound, 66 to 79 cents, if bought on sale or at DT, otherwise, pasta could be as much as $1.50 per pound.)

Less expensive produce -- in-season, long-keeping fruits and vegetables are often low in price, like:

• apples
• pears
• oranges
• cabbage
• carrots
• winter squash and whole pumpkins
• onions, garlic

Some moderate-keeping, in-season produce (a week or maybe 2, depending on storage methods)

• watermelon and other melons
• bananas
• in season tomatoes, green peppers, summer squash, broccoli, cauliflower

Home-grown fruits and vegetables

• we try to grow produce items that are more expensive in the stores, and often relatively perishable, like berries, plums, leafy greens
• home-grown vegetables which are somewhat labor-intensive to harvest, adding to the price when purchased, like green beans and peas

Frozen vegetables, bought in large bags or cases, plain varieties, like:

• peas
• cut corn
• green beans
• I make my own "mixed vegetable combos", instead of buying vegetable blends/mixes, combining carrots, corn, peas, green beans

Inexpensive canned vegetables

• bought in large #10 cans, like pumpkin and tomato products
• smaller cans (14-15 oz), when on sale, or w/ coupons, under 50 cents/can

Scratch-cooked desserts, no mixes, simple recipes, using ordinary ingredients, and often using home-grown fruit, such as

• pies
• cobblers
• crisps
• cakes
• cookies and bars
• cornstarch puddings
• baked custards/flans/rice pudding
• fruit sauces, using home-grown fruit

Fats -- I use saved meat fats, stored in the freezer, blended with oil at point of use, for sauteeing veggies, beans and vegetarian burger patties. I use vegetable oil, instead of butter, where flavor won't be a factor. (You already know that I like cake and cookies made with butter, but drop biscuits/dumplings/cobbler toppings can be made with oil or a blend of butter and oil. If there is some fat left in the skillet from a vegetable or bean burger saute, I spoon/scrape that over servings of plain rice, instead of using butter.

Those thoughts were rolling around in my brain today, so thought I'd share. Not all of our meals are cheap. But I figure if about 80% or so are of the "cheap" variety, then we can afford splurges, like when on a trip or for special occasions.

What we ate this week:

Friday (again a picnic dinner)

Almond butter sandwiches ($1.75)
Apples (free)
Bananas (50 cents)
Tea or milk
total cost, $2.25, plus beverages

Saturday

Take-out pizza, 2 mediums, with a $15 voucher, total came to $15.31, I found a quarter on the ground the night before, put in my pocket, then for pizza pick-up, used that quarter, plus 6 cents of my own
Fresh plums (free)
--total cost 6 cents

Sunday

Kale and shallot frittata (6 frozen eggs from last fall, at 11 cents each, plus butter/oil for pan, about 85 cents)
Brown rice (30 cents)
Plums (free)
--total cost, $1.15

Monday (Labor Day cook-out)

Foil packets of potatoes, shallots, tomatoes, green peppers, green beans, summer squash and hamburger patties
Fresh plums
S'mores
--total cost, $1.88 for the meat, and 50 cents for the s'mores

Tuesday

Meatloaf ($2.00)
Oven-roasted potatoes and garlic (free)
Sauteed Swiss chard and shallots (free)
Apple wedges (free)
Fresh tomatoes (free)
Hot fudge pudding cake (about 50 cents)
--total cost about $2.50

Wednesday

Black bean burgers (about 40 cents)
Fresh tomato slices (free)
Brown rice (30 cents)
Sauteed kale (free)
Purple potatoes pan-fried in saved ham fat (from our Easter ham) and oil (5 cents)
Plum cobbler topped with vanilla yogurt, a freebie (about 40 cents)
--total cost, about $1.15

Thursday

Corn souffle (about 75 cents), using ham fat, garden green peppers, some cream cheese, canned corn and 2 eggs
Little Smokies (75 cents -- I used 3/4 of a package that was marked down to 99 cents)
Spaghetti squash from garden
Leftover brown rice (about 15 cents, not much left), or
Bread and butter (about 15 cents)
Cole slaw (garden cabbage, plus dressing, about 10 cents)
Rhubarb sauce (about 15 cents)
--total cost, about $2.05

Well, summer came to a crashing halt at the end of last week. It has looked more like November, here, than September, dark, cold and drizzly, for a week straight. I am hoping the sun will come back and give us a few more summery days. It just feels too soon to lose those happy summer days.

I tried something this week that I'd never had before -- almond butter. WinCo has the machines which grind it for you, on the spot. I bought just a small amount, so we could try it. We had it as sandwiches, which I don't think was the best use for it, seeing as how it's so much more expensive than peanut butter. It was good, but not $7-per-pound good. Maybe it would be better on crackers or on apple wedges. That's just my take on it. If you have any suggestions for how it's best used, please share.

I hope your week went well. What was on your menu this past week?

Have a great weekend!

Do you remember my potted mums from last fall?

These were the mums that got caught out by an early frost, and lost their blooms before giving me much of a show.

Well, I brought the potted plants indoors for the winter. I kept them watered, and in a sunny window. In spring, I pruned them, and set them back out on the deck.

All are now beginning to bloom again!

I have 2 large and 1 small potted mum. Looking good and I'm hopeful for lots of blooms. And this year, I'll try to pull them up against the house before any early frosts, to extend their bloom time.

So cool. No money spent this fall for potted mums!

(BTW, these types of mums don't over-winter in pots in my area very well. They can be planted in the ground and mulched over, to use as a tender perennial. Our winters are a bit too cold for mums to survive in a pot, outdoors.)

The foil-packet cookout

As we'd been discussing using foil packets for camping and cook-out meals, I thought I'd share what we did over Labor Day weekend.

I knew this had to be cheap (meaning I didn't want to run out to the store to buy any "special" ingredients). And I knew it had to be easy, as I had a meeting later in the evening, and I didn't want to be exhausted when I walked into the meeting.

To satisfy the cheap aspect, I used all garden vegetables -- potatoes, shallots, green peppers, tomatoes, green beans and summer squash, plus used (but clean) aluminum foil sheets. And I used 1 pound of ground beef, bought on sale at Cash & Carry a couple of weeks ago, for $1.88/lb.

To be easy, I began the "preparations" early in the day. When you're using garden vegetables, "preparation" includes digging, picking and washing those vegetables. If you've only ever used supermarket produce, you may not be aware of just how dirty vegetables can be, fresh from the garden. Garden potatoes can be filthy! Anyways, I dug potatoes and picked the rest of the vegetables just after noon. Cleaning them was done in spurts between loads of laundry. I also seasoned the ground beef (with onion powder, garlic granules, salt and ground chipotle pepper), at this time, formed into patties and kept in the fridge for the rest of the afternoon.

Outside, a fire was built in the fire ring, making the logs as level as possible to provide a surface for the foil packets. At first, we just placed the packets onto the burning logs. Two of the packets began to develop holes. So, we placed the BBQ grill over part of the logs, and moved the packets to the grill. (The torn packets were placed on a small baking pan, to prevent veggies from falling out and into the fire.)

Quite delicious! And very little clean-up for me.

A couple of tips--

• if using a fire ring, a BBQ grill placed on top of the logs works well, with or without a baking pan
• heavy-duty foil fared better than lighter-weight foil. The 2 packets which tore were from well-worn thin foil
• we loaded the chopped potatoes onto the bottom, for best cooking close to the heat, then the rest of the veggies, and finally the meat patties, to drip their savory juices onto the vegetables.

Everlasting blossoms for my living room

Everlasting may be an exaggeration, but these blooms will last through a couple winters.

These are dried hydrangeas.

Do you know what's an amazing thing about hydrangea blooms? When you cut them to bring indoors for a vase, you don't have to do much of anything to produce lovely dried blooms.

You simply fill a vase with water, trim the stems of your blooms, remove excess foliage, place the stems in water, and allow them to dry, as the water evaporates.

I've done this the past couple of summers. It always amazes me, because so many other flowers don't look so great after a few weeks in a vase of water. But hydrangeas do dry so nicely, and so easily. They fade some, as they dry, and then a bit more after drying.

I think they're beautiful. Delicate, china blue petals. A remembrance of summer, when the winter light is dim and icy.

Confetti cupcakes, just for fun

Kids like rainbows of color. And frankly, so do I! Those "funfetti" cake mixes are always a hit for kids' birthday cakes and cupcakes. They're also fun, just because.

I had the occasion to bake a just because, fun treat item last week. But I was short on time, and wanted to bake from what I had on hand. What I did have was all of the ingredients for vanilla cupcakes, and some rainbow sprinkles.

My cost for the confetti cupcakes was about 73 cents, plus 12 cents for cupcake liners. That's about 7 cents per cupcake. Not bad for a fun treat, just because.

• My scratch vanilla cupcake recipe, for 1 dozen (cost 61 cents)
• plus, 2 tablespoons rainbow sprinkles from Dollar Tree (about 12 cents worth)
• plus, 12 cents for the cupcake liners, bought 100 for $1 at Dollar Tree

Here's the breakdown for one dozen cupcakes, halving a recipe for a 2-egg yellow cake (this recipe, here):

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (7 cents), flour bought at $12 for 50 lbs
3/4 cup sugar (10 cents), sugar bought at $19 for 50 lbs
1/4 teaspoon salt (1 cent)
1/2 tablespoon baking powder, or equivalent substitute in baking soda/vinegar (2 cents)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (4 cents)
1 egg (7 cents), eggs bought at 79 cents per dozen
1/2 cup milk (6 cents)
1/4 cup butter (24 cents) butter bought at $1.89 per lb

(Your costs may vary, according to prices in your area.)

I could have shaved costs on these cupcakes, by subbing oil for the butter, and using imitation vanilla in place of real vanilla extract, but I like the flavor of the butter and real vanilla. Ain't nothing like the real thing, baby.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for the end of August

Friday, picnic for girls and I (very easy)

PB sandwiches on homemade bread (40 cents)
Macaroni salad, with canned tomatoes, parsley, olives, vinaigrette (40 cents)
Apples, from garden
Bananas (45 cents)
--total cost $1.25

Saturday (very easy)

Italian chicken sausages ($2.49), with
Chopped canned tomatoes, and liquid plus seasonings (15 cents)
Brown rice (20 cents)
Kale and Cabbage from the garden, sauteed in fat from sausages
Fruit cups of nectarine and apple (60 cents)
--total cost $3.44

Sunday (very easy)

Egg fried rice with garden shallots, cabbage and kale (90 cents)
Baked apples with butter, cinnamon, brown sugar and pecans (75 cents)
--total cost $1.65

Monday (so so)

Meatloaf, topped with chopped canned tomatoes ($2.15)
Garden purple and white potatoes, rosemary and garlic (free)
Garden yellow crookneck squash, sauteed in reserved chicken fat (free)
Apple and nectarine wedges (apple from our trees) (40 cents)
Brown rice for anyone still hungry (25 cents)
--total cost $2.80

Tuesday (easy)

Black beans and rice, with chopped, canned tomatoes, garden green peppers and cheddar ($1.50)
Garden green beans (free)
Apple wedges (free)
Tossed salad of garden lettuce, yellow peppers, pickled beets, cabbage in a homemade vinaigrette (10 cents)
Scratch vanilla-confetti cupcakes with vanilla icing (45 cents)
--total cost $2.05

Wednesday -- dinner at a church event, no cost

Thursday (easy)

Black bean, rice and cheese burritos in homemade flour tortillas (70 cents)
Tossed salad of lettuce and garden carrots in vinaigrette (5 cents)
Fresh peaches (75 cents)
Blackberry cobbler (50 cents)
--total cost $2.00

I was totaling the cost of our dinners this past week to use as a tool for planning meals in the future. I'm trying to balance ease of making dinner with low cost. Some dinners just cost a lot more, yet are quick to make. And some dinners cost very little, but are labor intensive. But there are a handful of meals that are both cheap and quick 'n easy. Those are the meals I'm trying to ferret out. I'm putting together a basic menu plan for weeks with little time and tight budget, for my own use.

I ranked my dinners as "very easy", "easy", "so so", "time intensive", and I would have "extra time intensive", but I rarely put together weeknight dinners in that category. Those dinners would fall on major holidays, like Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter. And this week, I didn't even make a time intensive dinner (something like meatballs would fall under "time intensive", for me).

I had 3 "very easy" dinners this week. The PB sandwich picnic dinner, the egg-fried rice, and the Italian chicken sausage dinner. Of those 3, the PB sandwich picnic and the egg-fried rice were both under $2.00. I could tweak each individual menu and make some of them easier or less expensive. And I'll work on that in coming weeks. I think it's important to have a couple of super easy, but still cheap meals in your back pocket, for those hectic days.

So, how did your week go? Any super easy, but cheap meals this past week that you'd like to share with us?

Have a great weekend! And if you have a holiday this weekend, enjoy your long weekend!

Silly me! I almost forgot to plan something

Happy September! Oh my goodness, it's September, already!

I was driving home from Dollar Tree, yesterday, and I realized that I almost forgot to plan for Labor Day. I was forgetting that it is a holiday for everyone in my family, and they will be anticipating (with significant glee, I presume) doing something together. At least I think they will. At this age, you just never know if your kids will have their own plans or be thinking to spend time with family.

After finding out that all 3 kids will be around, I checked our weather. Monday actually looks like it will be the warmest of the 3 days, with a storm rolling in on Tuesday. Here in Seattle, that means a storm could be rolling in on Monday, at this point. Those weathermen can be overly optimistic, here!

I've been thinking about some of the comments, about a week ago, to make foil meal packets, in place of roasting hot dogs. It'll be fun for everyone to make their own packet, and easy clean-up for me. Of course, weather permitting, we'll make s'mores afterwards.

And as it looks like it could either be chilly or even sprinkle, I'm thinking of picking up a dvd or 2 from the library, to watch in the evening. Or maybe a game. Any good games you can recommend?

How about you and your family? Are you planning anything for Labor Day? Any suggestions on what we can put into the foil meal packets?