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Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Taking a little break for the holidays

As we're now in the last days before Christmas, I'm taking a bit of a break from blogging, to spend time with my family and finish up the holiday preparations. I'll be back right after the holiday.

Wishing you and your family a very merry Christmas.



Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Cooking lots of holiday treats



About a week ago, it was time to make our gingerbread men. I make these every year, but I vary the size of the men, and sometimes make gingerbread ladies, as well. Many years ago, my daughters received little baking sets, that came with tiny baking sheets, small rolling pins and tiny gingerbread men and women cutters. I saved the cutters, when they outgrew that set, and use them for cookies. I also inherited my mother's large gingerbread man cookie cutter, which I use with great sentimentality. And then there's the mid-sized gingerbread man, that I bought in an after-Christmas sale when my children were all young. I think it makes the "right" sized gingerbread man, so I do favor this one. And that's what I chose for this year, mid-sized gingerbread men. I filled a tin with gingerbread men, and had some left over to give to my son's GF.


I like the recipe from The Joy of Cooking, for gingerbread cookies, as it doesn't call for any eggs or baking powder, and very little sugar. The dough handles well, too. I can make the dough up one afternoon, refrigerate it overnight, and roll, cut and bake the cookies the next day.


Also about that time, I had some heavy whipping cream near expiry. As I mentioned before, I whipped a couple of cups and froze in mounds, to use later. But I also used 2  1/2 cups of the whipping cream to make peppermint ice cream, to serve on Christmas Day with our Buche de Noel. I really enjoyed the washing up afterwards on that one (lots of spoons, spatulas, beaters and the ice cream paddle to lick).

In addition to the heavy whipping cream, I used whole milk, a bit of sugar, pinch of salt and crushed candy canes. That's it. I didn't cook a custard, but microwaved the milk, to heat enough for the sugar and some of the crushed candy canes to dissolve, before adding the heavy cream and salt.


For our tree decorating party, I made a batch of chocolate and peppermint covered pretzels. These are pretty easy to do, and everyone in our family enjoys them. In a large bowl, I melted 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1 teaspoon of Crisco in the microwave, then tossed about 8 ounces of pretzels in the melted chocolate. I just kept adding pretzels, and tossing and tossing, until it looked like I had used all of the chocolate. I dumped the whole shebang onto a waxed paper-lined baking sheet, and separated them with a fork.

I had about 1/2 cup of Wilton peppermint melting disks in the cupboard from 2 years ago, not quite enough to make a batch of peppermint bark candy. So I thought topping the chocolate-covered pretzels with a drizzle of that stuff would be festive. I melted those with Crisco, until thin enough to drizzle over the chocolate-covered pretzels. I put the peppermint-white chocolate in a used (but clean) zip loc baggie, then snipped the corner to make the drizzling go quickly and neatly. And finally, before the chocolate and peppermint melting disks had hardened, I sprinkled the whole mass with crushed candy canes.

I still have the Buche to bake and fill. Cake rolls can be filled, rolled up and frozen until just before serving or icing. I'd like to get this done in the next few days. We'll see how that goes. I'm working on a mostly make-ahead Christmas dinner this year. I'd like to have the bulk of Christmas Day "off".

How about you? What are your favorite Christmas goodies to make? Are there any family favorites that you just can't not make?



Monday, December 14, 2015

You know this, right? Gift-wrapping on the diagonal


If you can't get the paper to wrap all the way around a gift, but it's close, try shifting the package to the diagonal on the paper.


Your wrap will resemble the layout of an envelope, on the backside.


On the front side, with many gift wraps, you wont be able to tell that the paper is wrapped parallel or diagonal around the gift. And on some wraps, the diagonal may also be more interesting (like a stripe).


Here are some slippers that I couldn't get the paper quite around, when the slippers' edge was parallel to the paper's edge. I turned the slippers to the diagonal, and they fit.

And you know this, too, right? If you run out of tape, you can raid the art supplies and use glue stick, or in some cases, skip sealing the paper, altogether, and let ribbon hold it closed.


Friday, December 11, 2015

Welcome to my home


As you come up the drive, two urns flanking the walkway to the front door. These were bare, with frozen soil. Too heavy to move to warmth, I used a mug of hot water to thaw the dirt, then a screw driver to jab holes into it, so that I could add branches of cedar and barberry, plus an outdoor bow.


At the front door sits a bench which needs repairs. Too rickety for anyone to actually sit on, but nice for placing decorative items.


If you come to the kitchen door, there's an urn, similar to the 2 urns flanking the opening to the walkway to the front. This urn was lightweight, and could be brought into the kitchen to thaw and place branches into. I used cedar, juniper, ivy, salal, barberry and cotoneaster in this planter, and another outdoor bow.


Inside the kitchen, between the two windows, a faux wreath. It lives in a box in a closet out of season, along with all of the other lasting Christmas decorations.



Out the back door, outdoor bows tied onto railing posts. the bows bought on clearance at Jo-Ann's, for 50 cents each last January.


Around the house, messages in Scrabble tiles.


A lighted garland above and around the dining room window.


The dining table centerpiece.


Several faux poinsettias, grouped together.


A faux floral arrangement (below). (I've collected these faux floral/greenery items bit by bit, on clearance, over the years. At this point, I spend very little on new items and just use what I've got stored away. When I am wanting something new, I look at what I already have, and find a new way to use the materials, or display the items.)


I can't forget what we're really celebrating.


Wishing you . . .



Thursday, December 10, 2015

Saving whipping cream about to expire

You know when you have a nagging chore to take care of, but you just keep putting it off. It's not a difficult chore, but it just hasn't made it up very high on your priority list.

That's where I was the other day with taking care of some about to expire heavy whipping cream. I had turned some of it in to pumpkin ice cream to have for dessert on Thanksgiving. And I had the chilling cylinder in the freezer, waiting to make some peppermint ice cream, to save in the freezer until closer to Christmas. But it would still leave about 2 cups of heavy whipping cream needing to be used with a couple of days. I needed to whip it up and get it into the freezer.

Finally, last Wednesday, I reminded myself to just do it, then I can cross that item off my to-do list for the week, and not have it nag me again!


I did just that. I've told you how I save whipped cream, right? I whip it up with confectioner's sugar and a bit of vanilla extract.


Then I spoon it into mounds on a baking pan lined with plastic wrap. You can place these very close together, and pack quite a few onto one small pan. I did 12 mounds on a 8 X 10-inch pan.

Pop them into the freezer for several hours. Then peel them off the plastic wrap and store in a large zip lock bag in the freezer. They keep for several months. Thaw individually and they can be used to top desserts, fill cream puffs and eclairs, added to smoothies and milk shakes, top hot cocoa (you can cut the mounds in half when they're still frozen, for making smaller whip cream mounds for individual cups of cocoa), or added to homemade egg nog. I'll be adding these to eggnog in a couple of weeks. I'll make a lighter eggnog using whole milk, then after it's cooked and cooled, I'll whisk in a few thawed, whipped cream mounds to add richness.


And what do you suppose I did with the beaters, spoon and spatula? I made myself a decadent cup of chai tea, by stirring my cuppa with the utensils.

Oh, I just love marking off another item on my to-do list!

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

The cost of buying parchment paper for baking cake layers


The other day, live and learn brought up a good point on using waxed paper to line layer cake pans. Many people are not comfortable with the idea of the wax potentially contaminating the baked good. This is understandable. Aside from using a soy-based waxed paper, there are alternatives, such as using rounds of parchment paper to line the pan.

I actually do buy parchment paper (I mentioned using it for melting cheese shreds in the microwave last week). I buy mine at Dollar Tree, for $1.10 per roll (including tax). Each roll of this brand is 25 feet long by 12 inches wide.

If I were to use parchment to line two 8-inch diameter layer cake pans, I would use about 17 inches or less linear inches of the parchment roll. If I carefully measured and cut with scissors (instead of tearing and losing precise measuring ability), I could lay the pans on the paper closer together, and offset from each other, to maximize use of the paper.


By doing so, I could use about 15 inches of the parchment roll. There are 20  15-inch lengths of parchment on a 25-ft roll. At $1.10 per roll, each 15-inch length costs 5 1/2 cents. That's for both layer pans.

For ease of removal from the pans, that 5 1/2 cents may or may not be a good value to you. For me, I'd be willing to spend that amount to avoid the hassle of broken layers, or a stuck cake. It would give me peace of mind when in a rush, trying to get a scratch cake made for a celebration. A nickel well-spent.

And just to put it all into perspective . . .

My scratch-baked cakes cost about $1.40 for all of the ingredients (using butter, of course). So, my scratch cake layers, including using parchment would cost about $1.45 for 2 layers. Add in frosting and jam, and the finished cake is well under $3. That is still a good deal compared to buying a cake from our grocery store bakery (at about $5 or $6 for a small cake).

If you don't have a Dollar Tree in your area, I've seen parchment paper online at Amazon and at Wal Mart, for a decent price, and at discounters like Marshall's and Home Goods.

For me, waxed paper is less than half the price of parchment, and I'm happy with using waxed paper, for now. That could change, though.

In any case, the lesson that I learned, here, is to always off-set my pans on whichever type of paper I use, as I've done in the photo above. I will waste less paper, and make my money go farther.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Our kitchen table for Christmas


This is the centerpiece for our kitchen table this year.

I used the pillar candles that my step-mom gave me for my birthday this past year, free sheet music from free-scores.com (Joy to the World), ribbon from my gift ribbon box, raffia, a branch of cedar (cut into tiny sprigs) and tiny pinecones (from the baggie of pinecones and brown plaid ribbon my good friend gave to me, and that I used part of for stemware ornaments at Thanksgiving). That's it. It took me all of 20 minutes to do everything, here.

How I did it

I printed out my sheet music and cut into 3 pieces, each one to fit a different sized candle. The candles move about the house as I need them, sometimes in the living room, sometimes on the dining room table, and now on the kitchen table.


I wrapped the paper around each candle, and then wrapped a length of ribbon on top of the candle. I have taped the ribbon into place on the back side of the sheet music. Then I tied a short length of raffia around the ribbon, and trimmed the ends.


I took a small branch of cedar and clipped it into small sprigs. Then I tucked the sprigs under the candles, adding a few tiny pinecones.

Super easy, free, and fun to make. In early January, the candles will return to their neutral existence, the ribbons will return to the ribbon box, the pinecones I'll put back with the other tiny pinecones in a drawer, and the raffia, greens and sheet music will be composted. Not much to store -- a bonus.

This could be done with pillar candles set on small plates, in place of raised pillars, or clustered on a raised cake plate, or votives, set in jelly jars and gathered on a large plate or tray. I've used battery-operated pillar candles. If you plan on having the candles lit, this works best with a battery-op candle, a candle in a glass jar, or pillar candles fat enough that they burn a hollow down the core, but leave most of the sides intact. (Do not leave any lit candle unattended.)

Anyway, I just thought I'd share another of our Christmas decorations.

Is this just beginner's luck?

First of all, the winner of the $10 Starbuck's gift card. It goes to the writer of comment #11, which is Cristie Glasheen. Cristie, if you'll email me your mailing address, I'll pop this in the mail this afternoon -- email lili.mounce@gmail.com

Now on to today's post

Last June, I told you about my taking a cutting from a Christmas Cactus plant in late winter, and that it had rooted after a couple of months. (that post is here)

I later discovered that it's a Thanksgiving Cactus, not Christmas (the pointy leaves are the giveaway). But they're all part of the same plant family.


Anyways, take a look at what's developing on a couple of the leaves -- blossoms!!

I began the cutting just short of 1 year ago, and now I have blooms. Beginner's luck? Maybe!

This made me very happy to find blossoms developing, and motivated me to take another cutting a few weeks ago. I hope this next cutting does as well as the first.


Closely related to taking cuttings from my Thanksgiving cactus . . .

I took several more cuttings from my African violet. But beyond those cuttings (and this attests to my scrounging nature), a few weeks back, at one of the teas where I serve, they used African violets as the table centerpieces. Well, there were a few new to me colors on the tables. When I was asked if I'd like to take one home, instead I suggested that we let one of the other ladies take mine home, but could I please have a leaf cutting from each of the different variety/color plants. I think I took 5 cuttings, to add to the soil where I already have some rooting. I just put my plucked leaves into a zip loc baggie, then plunged them into the soil once I was home. And now I wait. I'm hoping for a couple of new colors to add to the one I already have.

Monday, December 7, 2015

Jars, jars and more jars

I've stumbled upon and reclaimed/repurposed a bunch of nice jars, lately.


A while back, I mentioned the small square jar that I snagged out of the recycle bin at a charity tea I was working. Well, very recently, I got another 2 of those jars, plus these 2 larger square jars, also from a recycling bin.


In addition, when I was checking Goodwill for goblets, I came across 4 of these jars, for 20 cents each.

I already have plans for some of these jars. The small round jars are lovely when filled with jelly or jam. I have juice and fruit in the freezer, for jam-making this month. I would like to make a batch of jam or jelly to give as gifts this Christmas.

And for those square jars, I'll be filling a couple of them with loose tea, for Christmas and hostess gifts.


I seem to have an attraction to glassware of all sorts. We opened 2 large and 2 small bottles of sparkling cider for Thanksgiving dinner. Those small ones are so cute. I can't bear to part with them. I was thinking that they would make nice votive holders for the patio, if cut them off just below the neck. I may give glass-cutting a try with a few of my saved bottles, this spring.

Friday, December 4, 2015

Easy-To-Make Gift (No Special Skills Required): Decadent Drinking Chocolate Filled Ornaments


A very quick gift to make. Decadent Peppermint Drinking Chocolate packaged in plastic ornament balls. All four of these took me about 30 minutes, total, and cost about $5.50 to make. These could be made with a less expensive cocoa mix, which would reduce the price substantially. I'm giving these to a family. But a single ball would make a nice, affordable teacher gift.


I bought the fillable ornament balls 50% off at Michael's, for 50cents each. I know Hobby Lobby has also carried these. The balls come in several sizes. For a ball which makes 1 mug of drinking chocolate, the 2.5-inch diameter ball is the right size.


There are several brands of premium, sweetened drinking chocolate on the market now. Ghirardelli has one that you can buy in the supermarket. I bought Trader Joe's version for $3.99 a tin (enough to make 7 of these balls). The drinking chocolate does not have milk in it, just sugar and chocolate or cocoa. They're meant to be mixed with milk (as opposed to something like a Swiss Miss instant cocoa). So, I added instant powdered milk, some crushed candy canes, and a little bit of finely chopped semi-sweet chocolate chips to the drinking chocolate powder.

Here's how I made them.


First, I washed the insides of the plastic balls with hot, soapy water. I turned them upside and supported each on the handle end of a plastic fork, so they could drain and dry out completely. I allowed them to dry overnight.


The next day, I began to fill the balls. I set the uncapped balls in an open egg carton, and used a plastic funnel.


I spooned the amount of drinking chocolate powder, that the tin called for, to make 3/4 cup of beverage (in this case, it was 3 tablespoons). I gently shook the ball, to level the chocolate powder.

Next, I measured in 5 tablespoons of instant powdered milk, leveling each ball after.

I crushed 1  1/2 tiny candy canes in a plastic baggie, for each ball. I shook 1/2 tablespoon of additional milk powder, with the crushed candy canes, to help keep the crushed candy dry.

I topped each of the balls with 1 tablespoon of finely chopped, semi-sweet chocolate chips (poured through the funnel slowly, to prevent clogs), and 1 more tablespoon of drinking chocolate powder.

After wiping the exterior of each ball clean, I put the ornament cap back in place, and tied a little ribbon to the top of each ornament ball.

To make 1 mug of drinking chocolate, pour the contents of 1 ball into a 12-oz mug, add 1 cup of very hot water to the mug and stir.


These are to be sent to my brother's family. I'll include a little card with instructions on how to make each cup of drinking chocolate. I think they're awfully cute, and personally would find them delightful to receive.

Is 2-year old Christmas hard candy still edible?

Well, that depends on how you define "edible".


I opened a package of Christmas candy over the weekend. And this is what I found inside. All of the pieces stuck together in a large clump.

I pried a single piece off, to see if it was good enough to salvage. And guess what? It tasted fine. It was a little soft, but flavor was fine.


So I got out a table knife and separated the pieces.


In the end, I had a nice bowl of hard candy, plus a bunch of "bits". Those bits were saved, and have been added to cocoa and coffee this week. Kinda good, if I do say so.

So my answer is, yes, 2-year old Christmas candy is still edible. But the texture has softened. In the future, if I buy up clearance Christmas candy again, I'll store it in jars, with those small packets of desiccant, and see if the candy pieces retain their original texture.

How about you? Would you consider eating 2-year old Christmas candy?

Thursday, December 3, 2015

A sweet person did something nice for me

. . . and now I'm in the position to do something nice for one of you, and someone else in my life who needs a lift. Doing this will give me joy. So accept this opportunity, happily.

I have a $10 gift card to Starbuck's to give to one of you. It's not much, but you could use it as a gift for someone else, a stocking stuffer, or to take time with a special person in your life to just sit down and savor a moment of quiet and non-work.

It's an actual card that I have. I didn't think about an e-card until after I bought the gift card. So, once again, due to higher postage costs to destinations outside the US, this is limited to the United States (but Hawaii and Alaska are included, this time).

So, if you would like a $10 gift card to Starbucks, just leave a comment below. I'll close this giveaway Monday, December 6, at 9 PM, PST, and announce the winner Tuesday morning. I'll be able to get this gift card into the mail later that day, if the recipient gets back to me, early in the day, with their mailing address. I'd like this to get to one of you as soon as possible, for your holiday enjoyment.

Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Baking a perfect butter cake from scratch, using all-purpose flour and no baking powder (no kidding)


We had a birthday in late November. I can't believe this, but I have a child who is now 28 years old. It just doesn't seem possible that he could be this old. Anyways, we had an on-the-day celebration, and we also had a bigger, Saturday night celebration. If a birthday falls on a weekday, I bake a batch of cupcakes for the on-the-day celebration. And then on the weekend, when we all have more time, we have the birthday cake.

This is my all-time favorite, scratch yellow cake recipe, from my mother. I bake this cake for almost every birthday cake I make. Why? It calls for all-purpose flour, instead of cake flour. It never falls. It bakes a nice, slightly-domed top crust (no need to trim to set layers on top of each other). And it doesn't call for baking powder. You can use any solid shortening, but I think butter just tastes lightyears better. The layers can be baked days ahead, wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen. Then thaw on the counter for a couple of hours, and frost.

As my son's birthday falls right as I'm turning my energy towards Thanksgiving, I bake the cake layers in early November, wrap, freeze, then pull out the day before his celebration, to frost. The cake almost seems to improve with the freezing of the layers. I can easily slice the 2 layers in half, horizontally, using a serrated knife, for making a four-layer cake.

By the way, it may seem like a lot of extra work involved in buttering/flouring/lining a cake pan. this is how my mother always prepared the cake pans, and they never, ever stuck to the pan. So I continue to follow her instructions on this.

Here's the recipe for the butter cake.

Supplies:

two 8 X 1  1/2-inch cake pans. I use aluminum cake pans, like my mothers. I found mine at a garage sale, years ago. You can bake in larger cake pans, but the layers will be thinner, and the baking time should be shortened by a couple of minutes.
waxed paper and scissors
cake cooling rack (big enough for both layers)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter (or any solid shortening)
1  1/2 cups granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vinegar ***
scant 1 cup milk ***
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour




Butter and flour 2 layer cake pans. To flour a pan, put 1 tablespoon of flour into the bottom of the buttered pan. Shake from side to side, and tilt the pan, all around, to flour the sides of pan. Do this over the container of flour, tapping the last bit of flour back into the flour canister.


Cut circles of waxed paper to fit in the bottom of each pan. To cut waxed paper, set the pan on a sheet of waxed paper, and use the point of a pair of scissors to "trace" the bottom of the pan's shape. Cut on that tracing. Place waxed paper circles in bottoms of prepared pans.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Beat in salt and baking soda.

In a measuring cup, pour vinegar. Add milk to the 1-cup mark.

Add flour and milk in thirds, alternately, until all is combined. Beat for 2 additional minutes.


Pour into the 2 prepared cake pans.

Bake in the center of the preheated oven, for 28 to 35 minutes, checking just at the minimum time for doneness. To check for doneness, gently press your finger into the center of the cake. The depression should spring back. (In my oven, two 8-inch layers take 28 minutes to bake, no convection/fan.)


When done, place the pans on a cooling rack, trivet or hot pad. Allow to cool 3-5 minutes. Run a table knife around the edges of the pans.


Turn the pans over onto the cooling rack. The cakes should come right out.


Peel off the waxed paper immediately, and discard.

Cool the layers completely before frosting or wrapping in plastic wrap to freeze.

***if you do not use vinegar, you can substitute 1 tablespoon baking powder for the 1 tablespoon vinegar plus 3/4 teaspoon baking soda. Then use 1 full cup of milk, in place of 1 scant cup of milk.


For setting layers, if you want a really flat top surface for decorating, then place the top layer, upside down on the frosting covered bottom layer. When I just want a homey-looking cake, I set the top layer, right side up. It gives the finished, frosted cake a slight rise in the center, which can look nice with a simple frosting.

And now I'm hungry for cake!

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

November 2015 Grocery Spending Journal


For the month of November, I have $138.43 left in the grocery budget.

Nov. 1 Cash & Carry for Karo corn syrup, 1 gallon. spent $12.97

Country Farms produce stand -- the last day. I bought 30 lbs of small oranges for 49 cents/lb, 24 lb box of new- crop Red Delicious apples for $8.95 (about 37 cents per pound), 4 acorn squash (from 2.25 lbs to 2.5 lbs each), priced at 50 cents each (about 22 cents/lb), 6 yellow and green peppers (2 for 49cents) and 11 jalapeno peppers (for making salsa for 77 cents total. I spent $28.16.

Nov. 3 Fred Meyer This is my Senior Discount day for November. The Senior Discount gets me 10% off of house-brand items. I stumbled upon marked down, gallon jugs of organic skim milk, marked at 99 cents, not in the regular milk cooler, but over with the organics. With my discount, they were 89 cents each, I buy 5. I also buy sunflower seeds in the bulk bins, for $1.34/lb, whole almonds for $6.29/lb, whole pecans for $9.71/lb. In the baking aisles, I find pecan pieces in 6-oz packets for $3.59 (or $9.57/lb). I buy 6 (these will be the only pecans I buy for the year, as they're pricey). I also buy powdered sugar for $1.61 in 2-lb bags, I buy 6. In the regular milk case, half-gallons are on sale with coupon for 99 cents each, with my discount, they're 89 cents each. I buy 6 half-gallons of whole milk. Spent $50.87

Nov 6. Dollar Tree for my monthly run. I buy 2 quarts of almond milk, and spend $2.

Nov. 12. I stopped in at the local garden center to buy daffodil bulbs. They sell pumpkins in fall, but then turn  their business over to Christmas in early November. They put their remaining pumpkins out for free sometime in November, every year. I happened by there on one of those days, and picked up 4 nice large pumpkins, and several small sugar pie ones. Don't worry, I left plenty behind!

Nov. 12,13 Cash & Carry for the ground beef on this week's specials. 80/20 ground beef is $1.99 per pound, in 10-lb chubs. When I get there, they are all out. I ask, and am told they will have more in at opening. While there, I pick up 1 bag of shredded Cheddar cheese (I want 2, but not sure if it will all fit in fridge, will decide tonight if I should get a second bag -- $10.85 each), 4-lb jars of peanut butter on sale for $5.48 ($1.37/lb), I buy 4. Spent $32.77


Back on the 13th, to get the ground beef they were out of the night before. Bought 20 lbs of ground beef ($19.90/10-lb roll) and 5 more pounds of shredded Cheddar ($10.85), plus 1 bottle of sparkling apple-cranberry juice for Thanksgiving ($1.99). Spend $52.64


Nov. 16 Fred Meyer. As mentioned on my facebook page, I went to Fred Meyer to get a turkey. The deal is spend $50, buy a turkey for 69 cents per pound. Fortunately, FM is a discount store, as well as a grocery store. So I was able to spend the $50 without paying inflated prices on anything. In food, I bought one almost-20 lb turkey and 4 half-gallons of milk (99 cents each with coupon) and 4 half-gallons of orange juice (99 cents with coupon). After running everything in the calculator that I carry in my purse, I was 1 cent short of the $50, so I picked up 1 Lindt truffle, on sale for 25 cents, getting me over that hump of a minimum spend in order to make the turkey deal. Spent $19.93 on food, including the turkey.

Total spent so far -- $199.34

Nov. 18 Trader Joe's for cocoa powder, $2.49/9-oz canister, best price on cocoa powder in our area. I want 2 canisters for birthday cakes and holiday baking. I spent $4.98. Cocoa powder is much less expensive than baking chocolate or chocolate chips. And you can make some very nice desserts with it, such as Buche de Noel, or a cocoa glaze for homemade eclairs. I also like to bake pinwheel cookies, swirls of chocolate (cocoa powder) and vanilla dough in a refrigerator cookie. They look "fancy", but are very affordable to make.

Nov. 19 Fred Meyer for that other turkey. I bought very little "food", just 3 half-gallons of orange juice (99cents each with coupon). All of this orange juice -- I freeze it, after pouring out 1 glass. These 3 half-gallons were enough to satisfy the minimum, with the other purchases. Plus the turkey brings me up to $16.47 today.

Total for the month, so far -- $220.79

Nov 18-22 -- several stops at Albertson's, often with family members in tow. 10-lb bags of potatoes are on sale for the week for 99 cents/bag. So far, I've bought 90 lbs of potatoes. If I happen by Albertson's or Safeway in the next 2 days, I may pick up one more bag. 100 lbs of potatoes sounds like a huge amount, but they go quickly. And what is left in mid-winter will be cooked, mashed and frozen to serve later in winter, and into spring. So far, spent $8.91

I did stop in to Albertson's one more time for potatoes and 1 mushroom(yes, 1 mushroom, to add to my home version of cream of mushroom soup for green bean casserole). The potatoes were 99 cents for 10 lbs, and the mushroom was 33 cents. spent $1.32

Nov. 28 At Fred Meyer, picking up gift cards to use for Christmas shopping (4 X fuel rewards on gift cards this week). Also checked the egg cooler. Found 1 dozen repackaged eggs (I posted on these in June) for $1.19. I knew I'd be needing another dozen eggs, at least, in addition to the eggs I have frozen, to get me until Easter. I was very glad to find the repackaged eggs!

Now I'm done shopping for the month. For November, I spent $232.21, $93.78 over. But, we are pretty well-stocked right now. There's not a lot that I need, now. If I had to, I could get by with only buying milk, and still do fine for quite a while. That's a pretty good feeling, and totally eases the pain of going over budget for so long.



What I bought in November

Dairy
5 gallons skim milk
10 half-gallons whole milk
2 quarts almond milk
10 lbs shredded Cheddar cheese
1 dozen eggs

Produce
30 lbs of small oranges (perfect for lunches)
24 lbs Red Delicious apples
4 acorn squash
6 sweet peppers
11 hot peppers
lots of pumpkins
7 half-gallons of orange juice
100 lbs of potatoes
1 mushroom

Meat
19.91 lb turkey
19.57 lb turkey
20 lbs 80/20 ground beef

Pantry
1 gallon Karo light corn syrup
sunflower seeds
whole almonds
whole pecans
2  1/4 lbs. pecan pieces
12 lbs powdered sugar
16 lbs peanut butter
1 bottle sparkling cider
1 Lindt truffle candy
18 ounces cocoa powder

In December, I'll buy a ham or two, maybe some cream cheese, and perhaps some other holiday foods, but not sure, yet. I never did buy canned pumpkin. I bought some fresh pumpkins in October, and then got several more pumpkins for free, this month. I've been cooking and freezing the puree. I should have enough pumpkin to get through the year.



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