The April garden

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

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

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

garlic and shallots, whose greens I can cut for flavor

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

Fordhook Swiss chard

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

perennial herbs, sage, oregano, thyme, sorrel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Crispy buttered bread crumb topping

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

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

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

Sprinkle over the casserole.

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

Birthday pie

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

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

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

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

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

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for mid-April

Friday

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

Saturday (birthday dinner)

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

Sunday

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

Monday

Leftover pumpkin soup
Pasta and veggie salad
French bread
Leftover cake

Tuesday

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

Wednesday

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Scottish shortbread "fingers" recipe

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

Scottish shortbread fingers

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

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

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

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

Keep working it, until it looks more like this.

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

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

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

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

Prick the top surface, lightly, with a fork.

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

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

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

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

Anyways, enjoy, if you make it!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a girls' dress, but wanting a new apron

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This was gooooood.

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Friday

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

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

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

Sunday

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

Monday

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

Tuesday

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

Wednesday

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

Thursday

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



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

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

Have a great weekend!

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

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

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

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

certification and harvest date on the back label

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

Scottish shortbread, made with my 1/4 Scottish hands

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for the first week of April

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

Friday

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

Saturday

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

Sunday

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

Monday

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

Tuesday

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

Wednesday

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

Thursday

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

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

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

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

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

The gigantic oil jug became a pantry storage container

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My April shopping plans for groceries, household and garden items

We are pretty well-stocked in almost all consumables these days. It's a good feeling to not need very much. But there are a few items I'll be shopping for this month. Here's my list.

Fred Meyer

This Tuesday is Senior Discount Day at Fred Meyer, private label groceries, health & beauty,  plus gardening supplies, plus kitchen & household items are included.

I've almost used my box of fruit and vegetable fertilizer while working the beds for the season. So, I'll need one more box of that. And I need some potting soil, which will also receive the senior discount.

I'm needing lightbulbs. I will pick up a 4-pack of LED bulbs at Fred Meyer, using the discount. Fred Meyer has many of their GE lightbulbs on sale at 25% off this week, including LED's. I can combine the sale price with my senior discount, making LEDs very affordable. (A 4-pack of 60 watt equivalent LED bulbs is on sale for $19.99, and 40 watt equivalent LED bulbs for $16.86. I'll save 10% for my senior discount on those 4-packs, meaning the 60 watt equivalents will cost me $4.50 each, and 40 watt equivalents, $3.80 each bulb.)

While at Fred Meyer, they have Kroger vitamins/minerals on sale, buy 1 get 1 free. I'll pick up more calcium chews and multi-vitamins with iron, using the discount.

Also, I am almost out of decaf coffee. I have a coupon for Fred Meyer brand ground coffee. I can stack that coupon with the senior discount, and pick up one can.

Milk is on sale, Fred Meyer brand 1/2 gals 99 cents, this week, limit 6 w/coupon (this coupon also includes half-gals of oj, which my daughters like to take to class with them, and I pour into 8 oz. bottles -- far cheaper and healthier than buying soda in the machines). I can stack the in-ad coupon with the senior discount.

I went through the coupons which are loadable to my card, and in addition to a couple of free items, I found a bar-soap coupon. (Kroger brand, so will also get the senior discount) and an anti-perspirant coupon. (Not store brand, so only the sale plus coupon, but one family member specifically requested a stronger deodorant than what I normally buy at Dollar Tree, so I'll pick this one up.) I'll compare the prices to Dollar Tree's comparable products, once at the store.

On top of these deals, I have 1 catalina coupon for $2.50 off any purchase, and 1 mailed coupon for $1 off anything bought in the nutrition center aisles. (The brand of iron supplements that I take are found in the nutrition center, so I will get the senior discount, the sale price and the $1 off coupon on that.)


So, maybe you'll find this humorous -- since I started using the senior discount last spring, I've been getting an interesting selection of catalina coupons at the register, funniest being the one last month for adult diapers. I think they're making quite an assumption, here!

Cash & Carry

I'll keep a watch on Cash & Carry for sales on cheese (both Cheddar and Mozzarella), and laundry detergent. They have a bathroom tissue I bought last time, on the same sale, 48 rolls for $15.49. This particular tissue lasted us about 3  1/2 months, which is pretty good. So we'll go with the same.

Produce and bulk bin items from the ethnic market, Trader Joe's and WinCo

And I need produce. I'll go by the ethnic market, first, as their prices are lowest for a lot of produce. I am thinking I will find more apples for 49 cents per pound, and green peppers for 3/$1. Then sometime in the month, I'll go back to WinCo (making a stop by Trader Joe's en route for bananas), for carrots, other produce on sale, and pick up bulk bin items like raisins, dates, and sunflower seeds. WinCo's prices on bulk bin items was better than Fred Meyer's regular price plus senior discount, for the most part. When I was last at WinCo, I forgot to check for bulk bin cocoa powder, and compare prices to Trader Joe's cocoa powder (lowest price in town for cocoa powder, in my area).

Our garden is beginning to produce. We have rhubarb, now, and some leafy greens. We are still a couple of months away from strawberries and blueberries. But having home-grown berries make one very picky when it comes to buying grocery-store berries. I will wait until our garden gives us berries for my fix.

Dollar Tree

I'm now just making 1 stop per month at Dollar Tree. Just this little change in shopping really curbs my spending. I did a thorough cleaning of the bathroom cabinet last month. I found we had a plentiful supply of deodorant, toothpaste, floss, shampoo and conditioner, band-aids, sunscreen and lotion. But I will pick up more bar soap (if I don't find what I need at Fred Meyer), both for laundry soap and showering, toothbrushes and razors. My last bottle of liquid dishwashing detergent has such a perfume-y scent, too perfume-y for dishes. So, I've been adding it to the laundry soap. If Dollar Tree has the lemon-scented liquid dishwashing detergent, I'll pick up a bottle of that. As a laundry detergent, the perfume-y one is working great.

My brother has a birthday in early May, as well as Mother's Day. DT has greeting cards for 50 cents each. I'll go through my selection of cards at home, first. Then if I don't have something I want to use, on hand, I'll pick up cards for those occasions, this month.

In the food section, I will probably buy 1 box of crackers, to have with a cream cheese and herb spread some weekend day in April, and 2 quarts of soy or almond milk.


With exception to always needing milk, I am pretty well-stocked in groceries, for the time being. I'd like to use up some of the freezer stash and make room for spring and summer garden produce. Although I have a substantial surplus in grocery money right now, I may not need any of it for April.

Just a little info for you -- I find making out these shopping lists very helpful for me. By making out a list that covers all of the stores I frequent, and over the course of a month, I find I am much more thorough in my planning for the month. Back in the day when I didn't make out these comprehensive lists, I would find mid-month that, "oh, we're out of lightbulbs. Better run to the store." Then the next week, " oh we're out of dish detergent, better go to Dollar Tree again." You get the idea, right? By making a master shopping plan for the month, I can make sure I take advantage of any deals, special discounts, coupons, and lowest prices in town, and not have to back-track to all of the different stores because I didn't plan very thoroughly. Time and money-saver. So, basically, by having you guys here, reading along with my thoughts, you are all helping me to plan better! Big thank you, to you all!

When to cut tulips from the garden

There's a just-right point to cut tulips in the garden, in order to get maximum enjoyment indoors. I find that if I wait too long, my tulips will be spent within a couple of days of bringing indoors.

These tulips, right here, are right where I like to cut them. The buds are tightly closed, having never opened. If I cut them at this point, bring them in and pop into a vase of water, overnight, they become "perfect" barely-bloomed tulips, like the below photo.

With recutting the stems and changing the water, every day to every other day, they will be beautiful for an entire week. And yes, with tulips, I do cut the leaves with the stems, and submerge in the water, leaves and stems, all. It gives the bunch a fuller look, I think. And as tulips will only last, once cut, for about a week, anyway, I don't feel I'm shortening their "life" in the water any.

With each water change, I also give the tulips a pinch of floral preservative. If you don't have any floral preservative, there's a recipe for homemade preservative/food in this post.

Happy April, everyone! I hope you have tulips in your area now, or very soon!

Look what was in the free pile at Kohl's!

Okay, just a joke. No real "free" pile outside the doors at Kohl's. but you know how many garage sales have free piles? I was joking with my daughters about the free pile at Kohl's last week.

I had a $10 coupon in my stack of mail waiting for me when I returned from my trip. Luckily for me, it hadn't expired.

So off I went to Kohl's, coupon in hand. And going into the store I looked down and spied 2 pennies on the floor. Of course, I stooped to pick those 2 cents up. You never know when you're going to need 2 more cents, right?!

I wandered the home section of the store, looking for good deals. There are these knobs/hooks that I like. I picked up one of them a few months ago, on sale and with a $10 off coupon. But I knew I wanted another to make a pair of hooks on the wall. And this must be lucky day, as they were on sale, again!

I picked up one, price-checked it on the price checker machine, and found I needed to spend about another dollar to use the full $10 off coupon. In checking all of the clearance items, I found a bath bomb for 60 cents. This will make a great gift. Then I found a couple of gift bags, one for Mother's day and another for Christmas. Double great!

So i took my purchases to the cash register. After the gal rang them up, the total came to . . . you guessed it! 2 cents! I reached into my pocket and pulled out those 2 pennies. In and out the door with no money spent. The Kohl's free pile.