October 2016 Grocery Spending Journal

October 3. Stopped at Imran's the ethnic market next to Home Depot, for 2 green peppers (2/$1) and 5 very ripe bananas (29 cents/lb) for making banana bread. Spent $1.49 (Oddly, the very ripe bananas were getting eaten up and I had to hurry to make any banana bread at all. Lesson learned, buy more bananas when that cheap!)

Oct. 4. Fred Meyer for Senior Discount day. Again with the nice touches, I got a cup of Starbuck's coffee plus a cookie when I walked in the door, and a carnation when I left. Oh, I spent a lot of money today. I know it's all good, stock-up stuff, but boy did it feel weird to spend close to $200, on food, OTCs and gardening supplies.

What I bought -- 1 head of cabbage (49 cents/lb), 4 large cans of coffee, 2 decaf, 2 regular ($4.49 each), 4 15-ounce jars of natural-style peanut butter ($1.35 each), 3 butternut squash (69 cents/lb), just over 2 lbs of walnut halves ($5.39/lb), 8 half-gallons of whole milk (90 cents each), 1 gallon skim milk ($1.75), half-gallon soy milk ($2.51), almost 10 lbs of whole almonds ($5.39 lb, plus I had $1 off coupon to use on these nuts), 3/4 lb dry-roasted edamame ($4.49/lb), 2 bags chocolate chip ($1.97 each), 1/10 lb black pepper ($19.79/lb), 2 half-gallons orange juice (90 cents each), 2 large jugs of unfiltered apple juice ($3.99 each). Plus, I picked up my lunch for today here. I stopped in after a long doctor's appointment. By the time I was almost done shopping, it was near 2 PM, and I was beyond needing to eat. I went to the deli section and bought a kale salad, a pot sticker salad and turkey breast, spending $5.98. It turned out to be enough for 2 days of my lunches. So, less than $3 per lunch isn't all that bad, for a take-out lunch that was healthy. Total spent on food today -- $130.42

October 14. My trip to WinCo. I bought a little over a lb of candy corn, at $1.48/lb,  1/2-lb of baking cocoa, at $3.08/lb, 2 lbs of raisins, at $1.79/lb,  4 acorn squash at 78 cents each,  2/3 lb of sunflower seeds at $1.70/lb, 1 lb of chopped dates, at $2.14/lb, 5 lbs of carrots for $2.28, 72-ct of corn tortillas for $2.18, 10 bananas at 48 cents/lb, 5 bags of chocolate chips for $1.68 each, a loaf of bread for $1.98, a package of English muffins for 88 cents, a 12-ounce package of bacon for $1.98, 5 Hershey's miniatures at $4.98/lb, and trick or treats for $3.98. I received a bag refund of 6 cents, using my own bag. total spent, $38.30

October 21. Fred Meyer to pick of 3 freebies, and get milk on sale. I bought 8 half-gallons of whole milk for $1 each, and 2 half-gallons of orange juice for $1 each. I also found 2 containers of coffee on clearance for $3.99 each, and got my 3 freebies -- a box of BelVita breakfast biscuits, a Hershey bar and some Airheads. Total spent today -- $17.98

October 22/ Stopped by Dollar Tree to pick up some non-food items, but also bought 1 box of crackers, to use in coffee hour, after church next Sunday. Spent $1

October 23. This month has been an aberration from my usual shopping and spending, for groceries. More evidence that I'm just not myself, these days. I'm coming down with a cold, feeling tired and yucky, and needing lunch and dinner for all of us, today (Sunday). We stop at Albertson's on the way home from church, and visit the deli. We decide on fried chicken for dinner, and some salads and meat for lunch. There was enough salads leftover from lunch that for dinner I could stretch then with the addition of some fruit, cooked pasta and cucumber, for us all at dinner. And there's enough leftover fried chicken to pull apart to turn into dinner for Monday, in something, and then use the bones in soup stock. So, we spent $18.89, and managed 3 plus meals out of it all.

Total spent for the month, so far -- $208.08

October 26. Stopped in to Trader Joe's for bananas, bought 16 bananas for 19 cents each. Spent $3.04. (Trader Joe's is in same complex as Hobby Lobby. My art student daughter likes HL art section better than Michael's. So when she needs something like paper, paint or pencils, this is where we've been going. And I can go into Trader Joe's to get bananas while she shops for art stuff.)

Total spent so far this month -- $211.12

October 28. WinCo one last time for the month, after an appointment nearby. 3 acorn squash at 78 cents each (I find the largest, weigh them, and only buy the ones over 3 lbs, for a per pound of at most, 26 cents), 2 bags of shredded coconut for holiday baking (green tag this month, so on sale), $1.38/each, 4 more bags of on sale choc chips (2 milk, 2 semi-sweet), $1.68/each, pound of raisins at $1.79/lb, 25 lb bag of carrots, $7.98 (32 cents/pound), 8 6-ounce cans whole olives, 78 cents/each, 4 cases (12 cans/case) of corn, peas, cut green beans, French cut green beans, 33 cents/15-ounce can, more candy corn (used a lot of it in trail mix for coffee hour at church), $1.48/lb, some wrapped candies for future treat-making (undisclosed varieties as some members of family read this). 3 bags for 6 cents each refund. Total spent $47.50

Total spent for the month $258.62

This month clearly deviates from my usual spending patterns. I feel like I bought too many prepared items, and way too much sweets. Maybe it's time for some changes, or maybe this was a one-off thing. Not so much in the dollar amount, but in the extra items I bought. We all need a break from time to time, if we can afford it. So, I'm trying not to be hard on myself for needing that break.

What I bought this month:

Produce

2 green peppers
31 bananas
1 head cabbage
3 butternut squash
4 half-gallons orange juice
2 large jugs of unfiltered apple juice (about 90 ounces each)
3 lbs raisins
7 acorn squash
1 lb chopped dates
30 lbs carrots
48 assorted cans of corn, peas, green beans

Meat

12 ounce package bacon

Pantry

4 large cans coffee
2 bags coffee
4 jars peanut butter
2 lbs walnuts
10 lbs almonds
3/4 lb dry-roasted edamame
11 bags chocolate chips
1/10 lb black pepper
2 lb candy corn
1/2 lb baking cocoa
2/3 lb of sunflower seeds
72-ct corn tortillas
1 loaf bread
1 package English muffins
5 Hershey's Miniatures
trick or treats (individual bags of pretzels)
Hershey bar (freebie)
Airheads (freebie)
BelVita breakfast biscuits (freebie)
1 box of crackers
8 cans of large olives
2 bags of coconut
1 lb wrapped candies, assorted, for treats in the future

Dairy

16 half-gallons whole milk
1 gallon skim milk
1/2 gallon soy milk

Ready-made meals

deli kale salad
deli pot sticker salad
deli sliced turkey
3 deli salads (about 1 cup of each: seafood, slaw and fruit/jello/whip cream)
8 pieces fried chicken
deli turkey and ham


This month, I had $573.02 available to spend on food items. I spent $258.62. Going in to November, I had $314.40 as a surplus. Add that to my usual $190, and in November I have $504.40 available to spend.

I'm not usually a big canned veggie person, but at 33 cents per can, that's a deal I can't pass up, especially as canned veggies are just so easy for winter. I bought and ate way too much sugary stuff this month. I have to curb that, as it is not good for my health. I'll try better next month. I did buy a lot of nuts in October, which will last for several months. I'll be looking for good sales on pecans in November. My buy price for pecans is between $9.50 and $9.75 per pound. I'll buy 3 to 4 pounds, if I find my price. And of course, whole turkeys, potatoes, celery, sweet potatoes and pumpkin or squash.

I've mentioned this before, but I often buy the 25-lb bags of juicing carrots for our fresh-eating carrots. Once I get the bag home, I go through it all, and sort out the ones that are likely to go bad the fastest. I set those aside, peel, trim and chop or cut for sticks to be eaten right away. The rest, I bag in paper bags, in 5-lb increments, then over-wrap in a plastic bag and store in the garage fridge. These carrots will keep like this, with no extra attention, for a couple of months. I sometimes, chop and freeze about 5 to 10 pounds, too, for convenience use in cooking. At 32 cents per pound, these make a thrifty substitute for all or some of the pumpkin in pumpkin pie/cake/muffins, as canned pumpkin is usually around $1 per 15 ounce can. Just an FYI, if you're living on a tight grocery budget, like I am.

I hope that October was gentle to your wallet!

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for the last full week of October (is it really almost November? Ack!)

"hamburger squares" -- 3 lbs of seasoned ground beef, pressed into a jelly roll
 pan, to the edges, baked in the oven and cut into 15 squares,
easier than making a bunch of individual patties

Friday
A simple meal, but enjoyed in the relaxed setting of the living room. This is the very last of the roast pork from earlier this week. I was a bit apprehensive about the flavors not jiving with Tex-Mex, but as it turned out, they were delicious!

• refried bean, leftover rice/pork, cheddar tostados, with fresh quickie salsa and a packet of hot sauce from somewhere, IDK
• leftover kale and onions

Saturday
Having items like chili in the freezer has been so handy these last couple of weeks. When I am in between cooking big, I have something to fall back on, until I'm ready for a lot of kitchen work. The herb-garlic blend I made earlier in the week is now in the freezer. I can get out pinches of it to add to butter, for garlic bread, or to add to cooking rice, easily enough. Adds flavor, but no extra work for me.

• chili from the freezer
• herb-butter on French bread, toasted
• spaghetti squash (from garden)

Sunday
I'm catching a cold, or should I say, I actually caught the cold. Today feels rough. I don't want to cook. My daughters and I will make a stop at the grocery store deli after church, to find something quick and easy for lunch and dinner, today.

• fried chicken (deli)
• deli salads, leftover from lunch, and stretched using our fruits, fresh veggies and some cooked pasta
• carrot sticks
• herb-butter toasted French bread (herb butter from last week)

Monday
We didn't eat all of the fried chicken, so I plan on adding it to a salad. Should be good. I'll also bake 2 whole squash, so I can have extras ready for tomorrow night. Odd combo, the salad and baked squash, but whatever works, right?

• Chinese chicken salad, using 2 leftover pieces of deli fried chicken, shredded cabbage, shredded carrot in Asian-inspired dressing (chive blossom vinegar, oil, soy sauce, garlic, onion powder, ginger), and topped with
• homemade fried chow mein noodles
• baked acorn squash (I baked 2 large acorn squash, to use tonight and in soup for the rest of week)
• blackberry-rhubarb sauce from freezer

Tuesday

• acorn squash soup (using leftover baked squash, and chicken stock from bones of fried chicken)
• seasoned rice (using minced herbs from last week, now in freezer)
• hamburger patties (done as a slab in the oven, making a large rectangle and cutting into 15 squares), saved the juices and fat. Will make gravy with juices, tomorrow.

Wednesday

Busy day, today. Nice to have dinner ready and waiting, mostly. I think there's enough leftover soup for Thursday, too.

• leftover squash soup
• leftover seasoned rice, to which I added some sauteed onions and beet greens, leftover from today's lunch
• leftover hamburger squares (I froze them all last night, but can pull what I need out of the freezer to reheat quickly), topped with
• gravy made from hamburger drippings, some of the beef fat, dried thyme, chopped onion, garlic powder and soy sauce for color and flavor
• leftover blackberry-rhubarb sauce

Thursday

• leftover squash soup
• slider patty melts -- more hamburger squares, served as sandwiches on
• French bread slices with herb/garlic butter, grilled chopped onions and cheese, then grilled

Something I noticed about my cooking style, when cooking big -- I tend to go all in with the work, and don't worry so much about mess, or getting my hands really messy. I'm fast and furious, trying to be as efficient as I can. The works goes faster, this way. And since I know I'm only doing this twice per week, I don't mind the big clean-up that comes with big cooking.

I used my food processor to chop 3 large onions. About 2/3 of that went into the soup and the other 1/3 I kept in the fridge to add to other items, like sauteeing with greens, for an omelet, one day, and making a quick beef and onion gravy on Wednesday, and then grilling and adding to the slider patty melts. Very handy.

I hope your week went well. What was on your menu? Do you make squash soup in fall? This batch turned out deliciously, and took advantage of some leftovers, and a small amount of chicken stock that I made with the bones from fried chicken. 

Have a great weekend!

I've been making some of the soap for gifts

I'll be gifting some of this soap in less than a month. I didn't want to make the soap too far in advance, as glycerin soap gets "weepy" with age, IME. I don't know exactly what that age is, maybe a few to several months. In any case, I wanted to make this as close to gifting, as I could, but still insure that I would have extra time, in case it didn't go as planned. (You know life -- it never goes as planned!)

This is the honey-almond-oatmeal soap.

I used a goat's milk glycerin soap base, bought at Michael's with a 50% off coupon, honey-almond soap fragrance, bought at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon, honey from my pantry, oats from my pantry, the cardboard box from some spaghetti noodles, lined with plastic wrap and sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, from my pantry, at the end of pouring, I sprayed with rubbing alcohol, from my cupboards.

Since there is so much information on making melt and pour soap, already, out there. I thought I'd just give you some specific info on questions I had for my own batch.

How much oatmeal (or other dry matter like coarsely ground herbs/flower petals) in a batch of soap?

• no more than 1/4 cup ground oats (1/3-1/2 cup rolled oats) per 1 lb of soap base. I used about 3 tablespoons of ground oats, per pound and a quarter.

What form of oats to use in soap?

• the type of oats used in bars of soap is somewhere between colloidal oatmeal (finely ground, like a flour/meal), and quick-cooking oats. I took my regular rolled oats and ran them briefly through my coffee grinder, to get the right grind.

How much honey to add to soap base?

• some recipes called for as much as a couple of tablespoons of honey per pound of soap. I used 1 tablespoon of honey per pound and a quarter.

What to us for a mold?

• I used a long, narrow spaghetti noodle box, roughly 10.75 inches by 2.75 inches. This will give me 4 almost square bars of finished soap, that I will cut with a chef's knife.

How do I prepare the box for a mold?

• I used duct tape to tape the open end, closed. I used glue stick inside, to glue that opening flap on the inside, shut.
• I used an x-acto knife to slit the top of the box, down the center, and then the ends of the box, so that once slit, I had "flaps" that opened up the box, for a long, narrow tray, about 1  1/2 inches deep.
• I sprayed the inside bottom of the box, very lightly, with spray adhesive. This isn't completely necessary, but I wanted the plastic wrap to stay in place, when un-molding the soap. A little glue stick would also work. I allowed the glue to partially dry, for 20 minutes. It was tacky at this point. See notes on reusing box, as it didn't go perfectly.
• I then lined the box with a sheet of plastic wrap. This was tricky, at first, but ultimately worked out. I was able to reposition the plastic wrap, as needed, when lining the box.
• before pouring in the soap, I lightly sprayed with non-stick cooking spray -- this step was super helpful in un-molding the soap.

How do I find out how much soap to use for my box mold?

• I didn't want a bar as thick as the depth of the box, but one that was a little over an inch thick
• I calculated the cubic measurement of my box, with about 1  1/4 inches as my depth (width multiplied by height/depth multiplied by length)
• I entered my cubic inches into this calculator online to convert cubic inches to liquid volume
• for my box, my cubic inches was 36.95, and I used 1  1/4 pounds of soap base
• my resulting bars are about 2.68 inches by 2.75 inches, but only 1 inch tall. A lot of soap seemed to remain in my melting can. So, for future bars of soap, in this box, I'll add about 2 extra ounces per pound, of soap base. I can always pour extra soap into a yogurt container.

How do you keep bubbles from forming on the surface of the soap, after pouring?

• immediately after pouring the soap into the mold, I sprayed/spritzed the surface of the soap with rubbing alcohol, using the spray top to my fine-mist spray bottle (a repurposed body mist bottle)

How do I keep the sides of the box from bowing out, after filling with soap?

• I used 2 hardbound books -- before pouring the soap, I set a book right up against each of the long sides of the box, holding the sides of the box in place -- a very lightweight, make-shift vise of sorts. It worked well-enough for me, to yield bars with straight sides.

How long do I keep my soap in the box?

• I left mine in overnight. The next morning, I tried flipping the box over to un-mold and the soap wouldn't come out. So, I put the box into the freezer for half an hour. 

Will it come out of the mold easily?

• I had trouble getting my soap bar out of the mold. I used a table knife to loosen it. It was primarily stuck in the corners. I undid one of the taped ends of the box, to retrieve my soap.

Can I reuse my box mold?

• this is why I went to the trouble to adhere plastic wrap to my box. I want to make a differently fragranced set of soap, when this batch was done, using the same box. Ultimately, I did get the soap out of the box. I will reline the box with new plastic, I think, and try to reuse the same box.

What do you do about the lines and marks from the plastic wrap?

• I wasn't careful enough with lining the box with the plastic, so the obvious answer for me is to be more careful to line the box next time, without wrinkles, as much as possible.
• otherwise, you can smooth out many imperfections on your soap, using a plain terry towel. I simply buffed my soap until the markings were less obvious. This is homemade hand-crafted soap, so some imperfections are to be expected, and desired. Having added oats to the soap worked great as a camouflage for some of the imperfections. My next batch will have semi-ground lavender buds in it, again concealing some of the imperfections from pouring into a make-shift mold. 

How do you cut the large bar into individual bars?

• After measuring and lightly marking my long bar, I used a chef's knife, with a quick push downward (no sawing). Worked like a charm.

I like how this hand-crafted soap turned out. It was easy enough, and the cost was reasonable. I was able to buy the 2 ingredients that I lacked, the soap base and the scented oil, with coupons, substantially reducing my cost per bar. Each bar came to just under $1, including tax. The top photo shows 1 bar of hand-crafted soap along with one of my hand-crafted spa cloths (at about 80 cents each). Those two items together, tied with a pretty ribbon, would make a nice gift, and the total cost is under $2.

To wrap each bar of soap, I will use some cellophane that I have here. I have a large cellophane bag that  I will repurpose, by cutting into squares for wrapping individual bars.

Next week, I'll make the lavender soap, to pair with the lavender-colored spa cloths that I knit. 

How to make crispy fried noodles out of thin spaghetti, for topping Asian soups and salads

These aren't exactly like commercial crispy chow mein noodles, but they are very good in their own right.

I was making an Asian cabbage and chicken salad the other day, and wanted to top it with crispy noodles. I've made crispy lasagna noodle squares before, so I knew this was possible to do from dried pasta. I thought you might like to try this sometime, too.

Here's what I used and did:

• dry, thin spaghetti noodles -- I used whole wheat and it was "thin spaghetti" (if you use someting else, you'll have to adjust your timing of cooking the pasta in water), about enough for 1 serving of pasta
• 3 teaspoons corn starch
• oil for frying, no more than 1/2 of a saucepan of oil (too much can overflow when noodles are added)

Break uncooked noodles in half. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Drop the thin spaghetti into the water, and stir to separate. Set the timer for 4 minutes. (This thin spaghetti normally takes 5-7 minutes to cook. So, for other pasta, I'd subtract 1 minute from the low end of cooking time suggestion.)

After 4 minutes, drain the noodles, thoroughly. Spread on a dinner plate.

Sprinkle the noodles with 1 teaspoon of corn starch. Use a fork to toss the noodles and corn starch together.

Sprinkle, again, with 1 teaspoon of corn starch, and again toss with a fork to distribute the corn starch.

One more time, sprinkle the noodles with the last teaspoon of corn starch. Use your fingers to toss the noodles, thoroughly, picking up any corn starch on the plate beneath the noodles.

Allow to stand for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Bring oil up to about 350 degrees, over Medium heat. Test the oil with one piece of spaghetti to see if it begins sizzling right away. When test piece is sizzling, well, remove it from the oil.

Drop small pinches of the noodles into the hot oil, in 3 separate spots in the oil. The oil will foam up significantly, from the moisture in the noodles. When the sizzling is almost done, the noodles should be cooked.

Use a slotted frying scoop to remove cooked noodles, and place on a paper lined plate. About half way through frying all of the noodles, transfer the fried noodles to a new plate lined with paper. Continue using the old paper-lined plate for remaining noodles.

After the noodles have cooled, they can be kept in a tightly-sealed container in the pantry for a few days.

I am considering frying regular white spaghetti noodles, to use in haystack cookies, this holiday season. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Making cinnamon-fragranced pinecones, for cheap!

This is another very inexpensive and terribly easy home decor project, that I see for sale in stores -- yes people buy these!

If I didn't have free pinecones I could gather, then maybe I could understand purchasing scented pinecones. But for anyone who has a wooded area near their home, or a woodland hiking spot nearby, or a lovely treed park to visit, the bulk of this project is free. And it can provide a lovely outing, to boot!


You know those cinnamon pinecones in large, red mesh bags, sold in craft stores this time of year? They're usually right by the door, so you can't miss their fragrance, as you walk in.

What I love about them.
I love their fragrance. I love the natural beauty of a clean pinecone. I love that you can have a mass of them, affordably, to adorn your home decor.

But I don't love their price, at $10 per bag. Especially since I can walk right out my front door and find wonderful pinecones, in several sizes, shapes and shades of brown, just laying at my feet.

The other day, I knew I needed to get outside for a few minutes. So I brought a paper sack and went out to the evergreens in the front yard. Under the Western White Pine were these gorgeous, elongated, white-tipped pinecones. I filled my sack, then brought them to the garage to sit until I could get to them. (hands on time 10 minutes, plus I got a nice, but brief, outing)

level of difficulty of this project -- very easy
what I used:

• foraged pinecones (I've used Western White Pine, but any fallen cones will work), enough to fill a turkey roasting pan
• roasting pan, line the bottom with foil or a sheet of parchment (this is a great use for that sheet of foil that has been used and washed, multiple times, and is on it's way out the door)
• cinnamon fragrance oil (the amount will vary with your preference, as well as strength of fragrance) Fragrance oils are less expensive than essential oils, and often the fragrance has a more potent and lingering aroma than their essential oil counterparts. But essential oils can be used, too, and may have aromatherapy benefits. 
• **You can fragrance these with any fragrance you please. Nearer to Christmas, these would be wonderful if fragranced with a woodland pine oil. Or, you may prefer a blend of spices, like and apple pie oil, or spiced pumpkin pie oil
• small spray bottle (I've reused a small body-spray bottle. Normally, I use this bottle for spray starch for ironing.)
• water
• newspaper and a large plastic bag

Foraged pinecones are a happy abode for all kinds of tiny critters, none of which I want in my home! The cheapest and least toxic way to take care of the bugs is baking in the oven.

I brought my sack of pinecones into the kitchen and dumped them into my foil-lined turkey roaster.

I popped them into a 200 degree F oven for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, I removed the roaster from the oven, and gently turned the pinecones over, to expose any damp ones. The pinecones, themselves, were not terribly hot. I was able to handle them with my fingers.  But then again, I have "asbestos fingers". YMMV.

I put the roaster back into the 200 degree F oven for 25 additional minutes.

Take care with the baking. Check on the pinecones from time to time. Don't leave them unattended. While I had no problems with mine, dried-out pinecones are flammable, and we are talking about putting them inside a heated oven.

After baking, I removed the roaster from the oven, and gently set the pinecones on sheets of newspaper, spread out on the kitchen floor. A fully dried pinecone should be open, and feel lightweight. I was a bit apprehensive about what this might smell like. I was happily surprised that the pinecone-baking had a pleasant pine wood smell. (hands on time, 10 minutes)

Your drying time may vary. Weather conditions where you found the pinecones, their size and the amount in the roaster will affect the length of time required to throughly dry pinecones.

After cooling for a while, (at least 30 minutes, I didn't get back to working with these for a couple of days), I gently shook them, and picked off the moss and pine needles. I lightly brushed off residual dirt with an all-purpose scrub brush. I spread the cleaned and dried pines cones, single layer, but close together on a clean sheet of newspaper. (hands-on time, about 15 minutes)

Time to add fragrance.
The amount of water to use is minimal. It's used to diffuse the fragrance oil over all of the pinecones. I used 1 tablespoon of water, poured into the small spray bottle. To the bottle, I added the fragrance oil. I began with about 10 drops of the cinnamon oil, and tested on my pinecones. It didn't seem strong enough, so I added another 30 drops. Shook well and sprayed over the pinecones. Turn the pinecones over, and spray the other side. To get all of the fragrance out of the spray bottle, I held the last few pinecones, as I sprayed with the bottle upright, and then at the very end, dripped the last bit of fragrance onto some cones. (hands-on time, 5 minutes)

All of the pinecones were put into a large, doubled plastic bag, and sealed the bag tightly. I set the pinecones to infuse with fragrance overnight. Several "overnights" passed, as other things came up. But about 1 week later, I opened the bag, dumped out on clean newspaper and sprayed with another tablespoon of water mixed with about 30 drops of cinnamon oil. Once again, I put sealed in the large plastic bag. (hands-on time, 5 minutes)

By the next morning, the pinecones were nicely infused with cinnamon fragrance, and ready to go into a bowl or basket. These aren't heavily scented, but have a nice, subtle aroma when I pass this spot in the entry hall.

Total hands-on time: 45 minutes, spread out over several days.

I will probably need to refresh the fragrance a couple of times throughout the season.  And I will likely switch over to the Woodland Pine scent that I used on holiday pot pourri last winter, when December begins (I added cinnamon and cloves to that pot pourri, so I don't think the fragrances will compete).

Cost to make: I bought the cinnamon fragrance oil at Hobby Lobby, using a 40% off online coupon, for $2.62, including tax. I used about a quarter of the bottle, about 70 cents worth. The pinecones were free. My electricity cost to run the oven was about 10 cents (or less). My total cost for this project -- 80 cents.

Just an FYI, Dollar Tree sells a cinnamon-apple fragrance, for a mere dollar. Or, you can use coupons at Michael's or Hobby Lobby, or you can order cinnamon fragrance oils online, through Amazon, candlescience.com, or naturesgardencandles.com (all about $2.50 to $3.00).

The various online instructions called for much less fragrance oil than satisfied me, like 8-10 drops. Different oils will be more or less fragrant, depending on brand, aroma, purpose for the oil. The cinnamon oil that I found, locally, is candle oil. Perhaps the aroma has less strength in candle oils. or perhaps it was due to the fragrance, as it was a cinnamon roll fragrance, with definite vanilla overtones to the cinnamon. In any case, 8 -10 drops would not have given me the fragrance I desired. I believe I used somewhere around 50 drops, total. Still, it was about 1/4 of the bottle, and very cheap.

You could drip the fragrance oil onto the pinecones, if you were careful to drip into the center of each cone, so as not to stain the outer petals with oil (if that matters to you). The purpose of spraying the cones with a water/oil blend is to diffuse the fragrance evenly over the cones and avoid oil staining. (Just an FYI, incase you'd like to do this but don't have a spray bottle handy.)

Some folks prefer to wash their pinecones in a basin of water, before drying. I opted to skip that, as it seems to me it would just add to the baking time. Since we're not going to eat these pinecones, or place them on white upholstery, I figured drying, then brushing them off, would be adequate for cleaning. I suppose if the pinecones were truly muddy, then a rinse in water would be beneficial.

Incidentally, if you don't want fragranced pinecones, but just want your pinecones au naturel, baking, then a quick brushing off, will give you clean and bug-free pinecones for using indoors.

Sometimes it's not what you eat, but where you eat, that makes a meal special

In summer, we enjoy grassy picnics, waterside dinners on the beach, and pleasant summer cookouts around the fire ring. These venues make our humble meals feel special, without even changing the menu.

This autumn, we've continued along the same lines, but more appropriate for this cool and wet weather.

Picture a glowing fire, deep cushions, soft fabrics, and amiable companions -- all that is needed for a little dolce far niente. This is how we've been enjoying our simple Friday suppers, as of late. Whatever is on the menu, we plate and take to the living room, to dine by the glow of the fireplace.

It's pleasing. It's simple. And for just a little while, we are removed from daily life.

A truly frugal indulgence.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for mid-October (the humble bean burger starts the week)

Friday
I spent about 3 hours in the kitchen making enough bean burger patties to get us through 4 suppers and a couple of lunches. I had to dedicate my entire afternoon to this endeavor. But the payoff was that I didn't have much preparation for suppers for several evenings in a row.

• bean burger patties, topped with tomato slices and 1000 Island dressing (made from homemade green tomato sweet relish, 3 ketchup packets, mayo and chive blossom vinegar)
• whole wheat penne pasta with butter
• baked acorn squash, seasoned with brown sugar, cinnamon and butter

Saturday

I volunteered at a fund-rasier today and I am very glad to have dinner practically ready for plates. I'm tired.

• leftover bean burger patties, topped with tomato slices and leftover 1000 Island dressing
• whole wheat rotini pasta
• baked acorn squash

Sunday

• leftover bean burger patties, topped with tomato slices and leftover 1000 Island dressing
• oven fries, seasoned with garlic powder, onion powder, salt and chipotle pepper
• leftover acorn squash
• cucumber salad in dressing of last of Ranch dressing mixed with oil and vinegar

Monday 

In the comments on last week's Cheap & Cheerful post, Brandy from The Prudent Homemaker mentioned preparing grape leaves as a side, recently. Grape leaves are a super nutritious leafy green that gets very little recognition. Her comment inspired me to go out and see if I could find enough tender leaves for making a batch of stuffed grape leaves. I have everything I need, here. I think these will be tasty with the last of the bean burger patties.

• leftover bean burger patties, again served with tomato and 1000 Island
• stuffed grape leaves (leaves blanched in microwave before stuffing with rice, raisins, garlic, onion, almonds, cumin, oregano, olive oil, salt and lemon juice. After rolling up, steamed in the oven with lemon juice, water and salt, dish covered in foil)
• freshly baked French bread (yep, it was baking day. I did sandwich bread and French loaves)
• curried peanut coleslaw, with a zip of curry and chutney (I left out the frozen peas)

the second "cooking big" entree -- roast pork loin

Tuesday

Today was my big cooking day for the week. I spent about 5 hours in the kitchen, but was able to make-ahead quite a lot, to get me through the next 3 or 4 days.

• herb and garlic-crusted pork loin
• herb and garlic roasted potato wedges
• oven-roasted carrots and onions
• leftover cole slaw
• leftover stuffed grape leaves
• chunky applesauce

Wednesday

I've got some lingering cooked squash and thawed pumpkin puree in the fridge. I'll use both to make a batch of pumpkin muffins. I can do those in the morning, and have them ready and waiting at dinner time, to round out a meal of leftovers.

• leftover pork loin, I poured some minced herbs in water over the slices, before reheating
• leftover carrots and onions
• leftover applesauce
• canned green beans
• pumpkin and squash muffins

Thursday

This is the last night of the pork loin. I'm thinking to cube it and combine with either rice or noodles, along with more of the herb mixture. I'll need a veggie or two to go with this. I'll see what's still in the garden, when the rain lets up.

• brown rice with minced herbs from earlier in the week, diced roast pork, and olive oil
• French bread slices, spread with minced herb-butter, and toasted in oven
• fresh tomato slices
• kale and onions sauteed in bacon fat

I feel like I am getting most of my dinner inspiration from all of you, these days. So I send you all a big thank you! I have some frozen leftovers I can use over the weekend, then I have to come up with something else. Any ideas? Ha ha! I'm getting lazy. I don't want to even do my own menu planning.

I hope you all had a great week, and have wonderful plans for the weekend. Wishing you well!

Spiced beverage "starter" (or, how to make the spicey part of spiced apple cider in advance)

I shared this on facebook a couple of weeks ago. But because I know not all of you do facebook, I thought I would share it here, as well, simply because I've enjoyed having this in my fridge this autumn. I think of it as a spiced beverage "starter".

You may be wondering why I don't just simmer drinks like cider with the spices in them. Obviously, there's the instant factor that I appreciate. But more importantly to me, is pre-infusing some water with the spices, then adding the cider or juice for a brief heating, helps retain heat-sensitive nutrients, like vitamin C.

It's all of the yummy spices of autumn, infused in water, strained, then stored in the fridge. I use the infusion to add spice to hot apple cider, or make a spiced tea with Dollar Tree black tea bags, some apple juice and a spoonful of sugar or honey.

I've been using whole cloves, ground cinnamon (sticks would be nice, but cost more for me) and some allspice berries.

I make this infusion, either in a single cup, in the microwave, to enjoy right away or I make an entire pan of it, and keep in the refrigerator, for impromptu mugs of spiced drinks. Making this "starter" is an easy way for me to have an expensive-tasting drink at dollar store prices.

To make infusion, by the mug:
I put 1/4 teaspoon of whole cloves (or 2 pinches ground cloves)
2 or 3 whole allspice berries (or pinch of ground allspice)
and a 1-inch piece of cinnamon stick (I use 1/8 teaspoon of ground cinnamon) 
into about 1/8 to 1/4 cup of water.

I microwave in 25 second intervals, about 3 times, and allowing 2 or 3 minutes in between intervals, for steeping. I remove any whole spices with a spoon, and either add a black tea bag and apple juice and water, for an apple-spice black tea, or, I fill the mug with apple cider and a bit of honey or sugar, for hot spiced cider, and heat all, as needed.

While making this one mug at a time has been nice, I also really appreciate making a pint of the spiced infusion, for several days of spiced beverages, made easy.

For a pint of spiced infusion:
I put 3 cups of water into a stainless saucepan,
along with 1 tablespoon of whole cloves,
1/2 to 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon (or 2 whole sticks of cinnamon), and
1/2 teaspoon of allspice berries.

I allow this to heat, just below a simmer, on the stove for about 1 hour, until reduced by about 1/3 in the saucepan. It makes the house smell fantastic, by the way!

Then I pour it through a strainer, into a glass jar, and keep in the refrigerator. It has been keeping just fine, for over a week, for me. Spiced beverage "starter" just waiting for my cuppa.

To use: pour about 1/8 to 1/4 cup of infusion into a mug or cup, and add black tea, and/or apple cider, along with about a teaspoon of honey or sugar, if desired. Heat in the microwave.

I'm enjoying this for my own personal cups of apple-spiced tea, but it's also been nice to add to a family meal for the crowd, at the last minute. Hope you enjoy!

Cooking Big phase II: easier sides with some variety

Implementing cooking big, up until now has been mostly about preparing a large batch of the main entree. And that is going pretty well.

This week, I'm adding emphasis to preparing side dishes with ease, but still providing some variety. In particular, I'm working on the starchy side dishes, the breads, pasta, potatoes, and whole grains.


Earlier this week, I began planning an herb and garlic-crusted pork loin. I knew that I'd be cutting fresh herbs for this, including rosemary, thyme, oregano and sage.

When I set out to cut the herbs, yesterday morning, I had a thought to cut more than I would need for the pork loin, but enough for some potatoes to go with the roast, for herb and garlic roasted potato wedges. And while I was at it, I might as well cut a whole bunch of the herbs, and then later in the week, I could add some of the herb-garlic medley to the cooking liquid for brown rice, and some to cooked pasta, along with olive oil, and finally, on the last day, I could blend the remaining minced herbs/garlic with butter, and make an herb-garlic bread to use as a side dish that night.

As long as I was cutting all of these herbs, and peeling all of this garlic, I thought, I might as well use the food processor for the mincing. Brilliant! I make-ahead a large batch of mixed herbs, and I don't have to chop anything! (one of my least fave kitchen activities) After roasting the pork loin and some potato wedges, I still have enough fresh herb and garlic blend for another 2 or 3 nights of seasoned side dishes, just waiting in the fridge.

Here's what I used:

• about a quart of loose-packed fresh herbs, still on stems (primarily rosemary and thyme, but also some oregano and a handful of sage leaves)
• 6 cloves of garlic (also from the garden)
• scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• a couple of tablespoons of garlic granules, at the end (I didn't get enough of a garlic flavor in my blend)

After pulling all of the herbs off the stems, I processed them with the garlic and seasonings until finely minced. The resulting herb-garlic blend needed more garlic, so I used garlic granules. The yield was about a heaping cup of finely minced seasoning.

This idea of pre-blending herbs for various side dishes will translate well, in winter when all I have to work with is dried and frozen herbs. I can still mix these ahead of time, yet vary the flavor with each batch for some variety. Any of the following could be used: minced onions, garlic, dried or frozen herbs, spices, salt, pepper, dried chile peppers, sugar or honey. Basically, what I'll be making is a fresh and custom version of a seasoning packet, but for literally pennies per week's batch. 

I see great promise for using these on roasts, poultry, mixed in with ground meat for meat loaf, blended with a bit of butter and topping hamburger patties, mixed into bean burgers, cooked in rice and quinoa, tossed with carrots, onion quarters, or potatoes for roasting, or with cooked pasta just before serving, added to homemade soups and stews, mixed into mashed potatoes, or added to egg dishes like frittatas, omelets and scrambled eggs.

Anyways, I had to share, because I found a great way for me to use my fresh herbs a little longer this season, but with less overall work.

The best $2 I spent on supplements

This holds true for medications, as well. A pill, for whatever need, is only helpful if it actually comes out of the bottle, and gets into me.

Remembering to take those needed supps, daily (sometimes, a couple of times daily), and on schedule, has always been a problem for me. My consistency can be quite poor. And when I was feeling rotten this summer, I got even more off-schedule. I tried a variety of "systems". Not one kept me consistently on track with taking what I needed.

Enter the daily pill minder. I bought this 6 weeks ago, and I haven't missed a pill or supplement, since. In fact, it worked so well for me, that I bought a couple more for other members of the household who need prompting to take their vitamin D.

I actually have 2 of these for myself, now. One is for morning supplements. The other is for afternoon ones. Some minerals compete for absorption, with others, so I take those at a different time of day. And some supps require a couple of doses per day. Those, too, can go in the afternoon pill minder.

I am so on top of this, now, with the help of my pill minders.

Hallowe'en is just around the corner!

Just have to have some candy corn around the house for Hallowe'en and Thanksgiving, here. And of course, I need treats to hand out on Hallowe'en.

For the candy corn, I found WinCo has the best prices in our area on candy corn, in their bulk bins, at $1.48 per pound. Compare this to the other budget candy corn venue -- Dollar Tree, at $1 for an 8 oz bag (equals $2 per pound). Dollar Tree is still a pretty good deal, when compared to buying name-brand, bagged candy corn from the grocery store.

Last week, at WinCo, I did buy our candy corn for the season, a little over a pound. We'll use some of it to decorate Jack O Lantern cookies, and some will go on the Thanksgiving table.

As for the trick-or-treats, I have a set budget per treat of 15 cents. We get around 30 trick-or-treaters at our house.

While at WinCo, I deliberated the merits of all kinds of treats, -- juice boxes, bags of chips, fruit snacks and candy. I weighed the pros and cons of many treats. I wanted just the right treat to hand out. I didn't want any kid to feel like I gave out rotten treats. But I also remembered that my own kids would occasionally get something other than candy, and really appreciate the variety. And I didn't want to add to the sugar overload from the huge pile of candy. Nor did I want a bunch of candy left over in my own home. Wow, so much to consider. I spent close to an hour trying to find the one right treat.

I settled on individual bags of pretzels. Pretzels may not be the most impressive treat, but I'm together enough that my ego will stay intact if I don't impress every child in the neighborhood. And the treats that I give out don't need to in some way "fix" the lives of every kid who knocks on my door.

I felt okay about my choice of treat, okay in a good way. Because I don't have to feel super-duper fantastic about every detail of my life. The treat, itself, is just a token. It's the fact that I open the door, and wish the trick-or-treaters a happy evening, and I ooh and ah over their choice of costume, and I make them feel that I have enjoyed this moment of time with them at my doorstep. All of that is what matters to the kids, isn't it? At the very least, I made at least one mom pleased that their child got something other than candy on that night.

And just so you know, WinCo also has a lot of pre-wrapped candy, in the bulk bin section, at awesome prices, if candy is your preferred treat for Hallowe'en.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for October

3rd day of turkey and dumplings became turkey stew

Friday
Only 3 of us for dinner tonight. Dinner will be an easy to prepare one.

• hot dogs and buns from the freezer
• leftover baked squash
• apple wedges
• grilled tomatoes
• banana bread

Saturday

My daughters and I are going to a concert on campus, at their university. I'm honored that they want me to come with them (or is it -- that they want me to drive them? Hmmm, I think I'll choose to believe they want me there.) Anyways, it's a Christian rock concert, so it should be loud and fun! Dinner needs to be super-duper easy, as I'll serve dinner for all 5 of us around 4:45.

• beans, rice, tomatoes and beef from the freezer
• tomato wedges
• apple wedges

Sunday

So, us girls kind of stayed up really, really late last night, with no chance for sleeping in this morning. once again, dinner needs to be easy. Fortunately, I still have a couple of meals in the freezer. I took a vote, in the car when we came home from church, and it sounds like everyone wants leftover chili.

• leftover chili from the freezer
• scratch cornbread, using up some lingering corn flour, mixed with corn polenta, in place of corn meal
• cole slaw (planning on making extra, thanks to some suggestions, here)
• baked apples

Monday

• turkey in gravy (from freezer) over brown rice
• grilled tomatoes
• cole slaw
• leftover corn bread

Tuesday

I'd been thawing about a gallon and a half of turkey and stock in the fridge for a couple of days. Today's the day to do something with it. I managed to to gather enough carrots, green beans, summer squash, kale and parsley from the garden to add to some veggies in the kitchen, plus barley to the turkey and stock. I also had some liquid from various vegetables in the fridge I could add. Topped with a biscuit dough, and now it's simmering away. I should have enough turkey and dumplings for 3 nights.

• turkey, vegetables and dumplings
• pumpkin spice cake

Wednesday

• leftover turkey and dumplings
• tomato, cucumber, basil salad
• leftover pumpkin spice cake

Thursday

No more dumplings left on the turkey stew, so I'll have to make some other sort of bread product to have with it. Hopefully, we'll finish up this pot of turkey stew, tonight. It's cold, rainy and the wind is supposed to pick up this evening. A good night for turkey stew.

• last night of turkey stew, I had to extend it a bit with leftover squash, pureed pumpkin, a diced potato, and some almost ripe tomatoes that were half-blighted
• bran muffin squares (muffin squares are what I call muffin batter, baked in an 8X8 square pan, then cut into squares -- slightly easier than muffins)
• chunky apple sauce, using the good half of apples that had Apple Star Crack (an apple virus)

That was our week of meals, again using a lot of leftovers, either from the freezer, or from what I made, one night, then served 3 evenings in a row. I still do a little cooking every day, so it's not like these are complete nights off. But it's an improvement. And on days when I don't have as much to cook, I can do something else in the kitchen, like make relish. (I did get to the dill relish, as well, this week. So we have both sweet and dill relish to get through the year.)

Saryn, if you're reading here, today, you'll notice that I did indeed copy your lead from last week, and made a poultry and dumpling dish!! Told you it sounded delicious! I have lots of turkey in the freezer, so I did the turkey/dumpling combo, instead of chicken and dumplings.

What was on your menu this past week? What's the weather like where you are? It's cold, wet and windy, here. Saturday the wind is supposed to really kick up. I'm thinking I should plan something that can be either heated over a fire, or eaten cold, as a just in case measure.

Have a great weekend! 

Vitamin D, and what I've learned

There's a lot about vitamin D that I was never fully aware. Most of us know that vitamin D is needed for bone health. But more and more research is pointing to the need for vitamin D in prevention and treatment of depression, as well as possibly relief from some of the pain and fatigue in fibromyalgia, both of which are on my mind these days.

Seattle is a hot spot for vitamin D deficiency. It isn't just that we're well-known for our cloud cover, many days of the year. Some summers, the sun doesn't make its appearance until early July, no joke. But, also, we are way up here, in the far northern corner of PNW USA. Hello, down there, can anybody hear me? The sunlight that we do receive in winter isn't strong enough for our skin's production of vitamin D. Vitamin D screening/testing is becoming commonplace, here, as a result.


The best source of vitamin D is prudent sun exposure. That was the original design. Some of us don't live where adequate sun abounds. For others, use of sunblock is a health necessity. And still for others, skin pigmentation prevents adequate production of vitamin D in the body. Finally, (something I don't relish thinking about), but as we age, our bodies become less efficient at using sun exposure for our vitamin D supply.

So, for those of us needing supplementation, this is what I've learned. (And if you don't know whether you need more vitamin D or not, your medical professional can run a blood test, to check your serum vitamin D levels.)


D2 & D3
There are different types/sources of vitamin D for supplementation. I don't know where D1 comes from, if it still exists, or what it is. But commonly in supplement form, you'll see labels on packages or vitamin bottles with D2 and D3.

D2 is vitamin D made from ergosterol, from fungi and protozoa. Vitamin D3 is made from cholecalciferol, which comes from an animal source (from sheep's wool, I believe). From what I've read, vitamin D3 is more like what our bodies form from sun exposure than vitamin D2. There is some evidence that suggests D3 is taken up by the body more easily than D2. That doesn't mean that D2 is completely useless, though.

There's also a D4 and a D5, but I've never seen either listed on any package label, or referred to as needed for health, in a medical article.

Reading labels
When reading food packages or vitamin bottle labels, check for ergocalciferol and/or cholecalciferol. Vitamin D without a subscript can refer to either D2 or D3, or even both. Together, they are known as calciferol.

While most commercial milk (and many brands of yogurt) is fortified with vitamin D, many other dairy products, such as cheese and ice cream, are not fortified with vitamin D.

Supplement forms of vitamin D Vitamin D as a supplement comes in liquid, gel caps (filled with liquid) and tablet (compressed solids, as in a stand alone vitamin D, or a daily multi-vitamin tablet, containing vitamin D). 

There is also some evidence that vitamin D3 may be taken up via transdermal application (which is very helpful for elderly, who may not receive adequate sun exposure or supplements by mouth). This form is available as a patch, and as a cream.

The digestive system absorbs vitamin D as a liquid or gel cap, more easily than a solid/tablet. Some people have reported, anecdotally, that they feel better on the liquid drops than either gel caps or tablet. My own doctor didn't feel there was any efficacy benefit from the drops vs the gel caps, however.

Vitamin D is fat soluble. That means, it needs fat in the digestive system to absorb it's nutrient value. 
Vitamin D in liquid form is also sold in a preparation of a liquid fat, to be taken regardless of whether you've just eaten some fat or not. This is very beneficial for those individuals who for one reason or another have an extremely limited diet, or can't take much by mouth.

I've read the advice to take vitamin D supplements with your heaviest meal meal of the day. 

The human body benefits from adding Vitamin K, when supplementing vitamin D and calcium. Vitamin K is also a fat-soluble vitamin. There are a few forms of vitamin K. K1 and K2 are the natural sources. K1 is what is found in leafy green vegetables. The human body converts K1 to K2, with, but not limited to, the help of gut flora. Deficiency of vitamin K has been found in individuals with malabsorption issues, due to disease of the digestive system or extensive use of broad spectrum antibiotics.

Vitamin K2 is thought to be the main storage form of vitamin K, in animals. Food source-wise, K2 is found in animal livers and bacteria-fermented foods, including hard cheeses.

It is recommended to get both sources of vitamin K in your diet on a daily basis. Although vitamin K is fat-soluble, it doesn't appear to be stored long-term (like vitamin D), in the body. 

Most of us have heard that vitamin K helps in blood coagulation. It also plays a key role in the body when paired with vitamin D. In a nutshell, if I recall correctly, vitamin D helps the body absorbs calcium, and vitamin K2 helps direct that calcium away from soft tissue (like arteries) and into the bones.

What I've observed with D2. 
Alternative milks, like soy milk and almond milk, are mostly supplemented with vitamin D2, not D3. My guess is that alternative milks are not only market-targeted to those with dietary issues regarding lactose, but also to the vegetarian/vegan share of the market. D2 being from a non-animal source fits with that marketing model. Just something to be aware of, as some experts say that D2 is not taken up as easily by the body as D3.

Vitamin D toxicity from excess supplementation is rare and primarily happens in individuals with specific other medical conditions, such as hyperparathyroidism. But it can still happen. So mega-dosing isn't advised. (Just because a little is good doesn't mean that a lot is better.)

***None of this is to be read as medical advice. These are all things I didn't know about vitamin D until recently. Some of this information may be new to you, and I encourage you to do your own research and consult with your doctor/medical care professional about your nutritional needs. You already know this, but I have to say it -- I am not a medical professional, and I've never played one on TV.

Now, this is what I have chosen to do.

• I had vitamin D2 in my cabinet when I began this research. Although it is not as available to the body as D3, it's not useless. I didn't want throw it out, of course. But I also didn't want to rely on it as my only source of vitamin D supplementation. So, to use it up (and not have wasted money on something),  I alternated the D2 with D3, every other day. I don't get any vitamin D from animal milk. Even if I tried drinking more milk, with lactose intolerance, it's been suggested that my body wouldn't be able to absorb all the nutrients, anyways, due to a compromised digestive system when I consume milk.
• I don't eat much fish, either. So, most of my vitamin D needs to come from supplements for most of the year.
• After finishing my D2, I settled on a liquid form of vitamin D3, in drops, to be taken on my tongue. The drops may be taken up by my body better than other forms. But also, I like them because they're very easy to take, with no extra pills to swallow.
• I take my vitamin D, twice each day, immediately after eating a spoonful of natural-style peanut butter. or handful of nuts with my breakfast., and right after lunch. I would take vitamin D with dinner (as that's my heaviest meal of the day), but I get so busy and tired at that hour that I forget.
• I don't count the vitamin D2 that is in the soy milk that I use, daily, towards my RDA for vitamin D.
• I've added a vitamin K2 supplement to my diet, as I don't eat enough sources of K2 on a regular basis. I do eat plenty of leafy greens, but I also have some nutrient absorption issues, and have taken more than my share of broad spectrum antibiotics, unfortunately.

If you think you need extra vitamin D, this is a good discussion to have with your doctor. Many doctors now routinely test for serum vitamin D levels.

(This is a lot of information. Sorry to have gone on so long.) 

The weather turned suddenly, and left me with dying tomato plants (and lots of small green tomatoes that could never ripen)

September and now October has flown past in a flash. What I thought was several more weeks to manage what's left in the garden turned into just a few days. The tomato plants were hit by blight, and I had just days to deal with what was left on the vines.

I went out to the garden on Monday, and I picked all of the small green tomatoes, even the ones that didn't have a chance at ripening indoors. Any tomato larger than a pea was fair game.

After washing all of these tomatoes, I ran a bunch of them through the food processor, along with onions, and baby green peppers from the garden. I used this finely chopped veggie mix to make our sweet pickle relish for the next year.

I used about 4 cups of chopped green tomato, 1  1/2 onions, chopped, and about 1/2 cup of finely chopped green pepper. Adding in some vinegar, sugar, salt and spices, I was able to make 3 pints of sweet relish, for about 50 cents total, including lids for the jars.

This is enough relish for the year for our family, with a small jar leftover for gifting in a basket of home-canned goodies, to a certain someone, special to me.

I have enough green tomatoes leftover to make a small batch of dill relish, too, if I work quickly. Once tomatoes have been caught out by blight, they turn brown and unusable.

And so another summer's garden is coming to a close. A nice respite for me. And by spring, I'll be eager to get my hands in the dirt, once again.

Making this relish reminded me of all of those end of the season recipes, like piccalilli, that I find in old cookbooks. Ones where you add bits of mis-matched this and that to the mix, and end up with something really yummy as a result. Have you ever tried piccalilli, or some similar garden relish? What do you do with those last bits from the garden?

Prepackaged snacks on a budget

It's super important that I eat healthy and that I don't skip meals. That last one is hard for me, as I'm often out over a meal time, and frequently that is unplanned.

Many of the packaged snack bars contain too much sugar for me, personally, in the form of honey, cane sugar, and dried fruit. And even a banana or bag of raisins (what had long been my favorite items to grab going out the door) is no longer the best option for me to snack on, in place of a meal or main snack.

So I need something moderately balanced in energy, fats, proteins and carbs. But not a pricey health food store bar or snack mix. But it has to be as convenient as a packaged energy mix or bar.

You already know that I buy nuts, seeds and dried fruit from bulk bins at Fred Meyer and WinCo. The change that I've made is to pre-package some of those snacks into custom mix blends, just for me to grab when I need a portable, instant snack.

I've been filling snack-size ziploc bags, from Dollar Tree, with measured amounts of roasted almonds, roasted edamame, raisins, dried cranberries, and as an extra, a few jumbo chocolate chips. I set up several open bags on the counter, and measure ingredients into each bag, assembly line fashion. When I'm done, I have enough snack mix bags for the week, for myself.

I calculated the calorie count to be about 200, which is what I need when a meal is delayed. And my costs are about 65 cents per bag.

These packaged-by-me, energy mix bags meet all of my needs. They're nutritionally balanced. They're affordable. And they are quick to grab.

So, I chose dried edamame and almonds for protein, raisins and dried cranberries for some natural sugars and fiber, and the chocolate chips, just for my chocolate fix. What would you choose if you made energy mix for yourself? Do you have any favorite easy and healthy grab-and-go snacks?

More autumn decor, this time with canning jars and acrylic craft paint

You've probably seen this idea. I'e seen it a few different places. And I've seen the canning jars painted on the inside as well as outside. When painted on the inside, the jars retain that glossy, glass look. When painted on the outside, with a matte paint, they look more vintage. Anyways, I thought I'd give this project a try.

I love its rustic look, which seems to be a natural for autumn decor. And it's so easy, and inexpensive. I just used what I had on hand.

level of difficulty -- very easy

• canning jars (2, originally from Goodwill at 20 cents each)
• acrylic craft paint, just the ordinary, goes-on-sale-at Michael's-for-79 cents, kind
• craft paint brush
• fine sand paper (150 grit or finer -- you know this, right? the higher the number, the finer the grit)
• something to prop the jar up with, I used an upturned custard cup
• optional -- matte finish, clear acrylic sealer

I set up a spot on my kitchen counter, off to the side, with a half sheet of newspaper folded over as my work area.

Holding the jar in my left hand, I painted the jar with brush in my right, beginning with down by the bottom, but not covering the underside. I painted the rest of the jar, including threads and top rim. To paint the very top of the jar, I had to set this on the upturned custard cup. Allowed to dry overnight. (10 minutes, hands-on time)

Next day, I painted over the first coat, and set to dry. (5-10 minutes hands-on time)

Third day, I added one more coat of paint. the third coat of paint is optional, depending on the look you want. I wanted the jar to look fully opaque, and color to be very uniform. But I've also seen these done with just 2 coats, and a slightly more rustic look. (5-10 minutes hands-on time)

When the paint was thoroughly dry, I used the fine grit sand paper to sand off some of the paint in areas where paint would receive normal wear with time and use -- any raised surface, including threads and part of top edge, the raised lettering and a couple of wear spots on the shoulder of the jar, as well as near the base on the slight corner of the jar. (10 minutes hands-on time)

Optional final step -- you can spray your finished jar with a matte, clear acrylic spray, especially helpful if you will be using this jar for holding anything wet, like fresh flowers, or the jar will be placed outdoors, where it will be exposed to moisture. I skipped this step, as I didn't think it was necessary, and would cost extra money for the sealer.

This was a totally easy project. Took about 40 minutes, total hands-on time. I was able to set-up a work area in less than a 24-inch section of kitchen counter. And it cost me absolutely nothing, up-front. I made 2 jars, using 2 shades of acrylic paint that I already had. I love creating and crafting. So this filled that need.

I had a bouquet of autumn toned silk flowers for the larger jar. And for the smaller jar, I made a bouquet of twigs and dried leaves.

What do you think? I like the rustic look. And I love the paint colors, otherwise I wouldn't have had them on hand to begin with.

I have a super huge confession to make -- I sometimes buy those small vials of craft paint, simply because I love the color. I tell myself that I'll do this or that project, but I often don't. I just really love the color and so I have to have an excuse to buy the paint. At 79 cents or less a pop, I figure it's a cheap thrill for me. It's like women who have oodles of lipstick tubes in their cosmetic drawer, or a gazillion pair of shoes, 50-million pairs of colorful socks. We buy and collect them simply because we've fallen in love with seeing them, as individual pieces and en masse in a drawer or cupboard. And I do eventually find a project to use my little splurges on. So it's all a win! Before I even had money to buy the paint, I used to collect paint chips from the paint section of Home Depot. Not necessarily colors that I'd paint a room in my house, but just colors that I liked. I just like colors, I guess.

So, how about you? What kind of fall decor projects have you seen, on pinterest, websites, blogs or whereever, that you've wanted to try, yourself? Any super frugal ones, that you already have the materials for?

If you feel in the mood to share your own fall decor, and would like, you can email me photos, and I can do a post later this week or next showing off your autumn decor style. Email to lili.mounce  at  gmail.com   Thanks! I'd love, love, love to see some of the decor in your home! It gives me inspiration.