Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for mid-June (lots of berries!)

Friday

Huevos Rancheros
Warm corn tortillas
Spinach salad with creamy salsa dressing
Chocolate pudding

Saturday

Homemade veggie pizza, w/onions, tomato, and green pepper
Large tossed salad (given to us)
Fresh strawberries from garden
Brownies (given to us)

Sunday (Father's Day)

Hot dog cookout, hot dogs on
Homemade buns
Carrot sticks
Tossed green salad
Fruit salad
S'mores

Monday

Black beans, tomato and rice
Tossed salad
Fresh strawberries from garden
Leftover brownies (given to us on Saturday)

Tuesday

Kale-tomato frittata
Soybean falafel
Fresh-baked whole wheat bread
Leftover sausage, gravy and biscuits (from Sunday brunch)
Tapioca pudding (I found 1/4 cup of tapioca pearls in the cupboard, the day before, so soaked overnight to make pudding for Tuesday night)
Fresh raspberries from garden

Wednesday

Black bean chili (vegetarian, mostly, but flavored with chicken fat/stock)
Asian noodle and veggie salad over lettuce leaves
Fresh berries from garden (raspberries and strawberries)
Bread and fresh vanilla-rhubarb butter

Thursday

Marinara sauce over steamed kale and pasta (and a bit of leftover rice), topped with mozzarella and baked
Mixed green salad (saving the greens for tonight. It turns out I made too much dinner last night)
Steamed carrots
Vanilla pudding, topped with almond slivers and fresh berries


It's been one of those weeks where I keep finding things to use up in the fridge and pantry. Little bits of this and that, like the soybean/almond/coconut okara (from making soy-almond milk), a small amount of green pepper needing using (put on homemade pizza), a small handful of tapioca pearls in the cupboard, canned tomatoes from a large can that had been opened about week ago, olive liquid (went into chili), and various leftovers. A couple of the dinners sound like large meals, but in reality were lots of small amounts of many things. And we continue to eat a lot of eggs.

How was your week? Anything especially delicious for dinner this past week?

Have a wonderful weekend!

An indulgence on a budget -- a bouquet of a dozen roses

June is the month for the pink hybrid tea roses in my garden. As I was tending the garden, the other day, I was noticing just how perfect they were looking this year. The leaves look clean of spots, and very few aphids on the stems.

I just couldn't resist. I cut myself a lovely bouquet of 1 dozen plus (there are actually 13 in this bouquet), for a vase on my dresser. I wasn't counting, but my daughter commented that I had a dozen roses.

I can count on one hand the number of bouquets of roses that I've received in the last 30 years. A purchased dozen roses is quite an extravagance. So this is really a treat for me.

I was curious what a dozen pink roses was going for this week, so I checked out FTD and a few other online florists. Avas Flowers has a dozen pink roses for $34.99,  GlobalRose has them for $40, FTD is selling them for $49.99, and Teleflora has them for a whopping $63.71!

Five minutes of cutting, and I've saved $63.71! Of course, I would never dream of spending that much money on flowers for myself. So it's not a true savings. But I'm enjoying this bouquet, nonetheless.

Happy June, everyone! Don't forget to stop and smell the roses.

With whatever you have, do something nice for yourself. A lovely tea poured over ice. A bowl of fresh raspberries from your garden. A nice foot soak in epsom salt at the end of the day. Lunch, al fresco, on your patio or deck. A honey-oatmeal face mask. Or a bouquet of your garden-grown flowers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alice sent me a couple of photos of her rock garden, where she has her potted herbs and veggies, as well as some ornamentals (day lilies, a flowering ground cover, 2 pink-flowering shrubs and some evergreen shrubs). She has a lovely little pathway set through her garden, so she can stroll through there, or tend her plants. I can see green beans, tomatoes, green onions and chives, all in pots. What else is in the pots, Alice? They look to be thriving. Have you been working on this garden for a while, Alice? It looks lovely.

Anyways, she and I wanted to share her photos, so I've downloaded a couple of them, here. Enjoy a little tour of Alice's garden.

the view approaching one end of the walkway

near where the other end of the pathway meets up with the house

English Toffee recipe

This is for Ruthie (and anyone else who enjoys making candy). In the comments last week, Ruthie said she buys English Toffee locally for about $16 per pound. My cost per pound is a fraction of that. I did the math at the bottom of this post. Ruthie, enjoy!


A good friend of mine has a sister-in-law who is a local chocolatier. When my friend expressed interest in making some candy at home, her sister-in-law gave her this recipe.

The is the full recipe. It makes about 3  1/2 pounds of candy (good for giving gifts, not so good for my waistline). I make a half recipe when it's just for my family. Next time, I plan on making a quarter recipe.

It's simple, just 4 ingredients -- granulated sugar, salted butter (not unsalted and definitely not margarine), almonds, and milk chocolate (the better the quality of chocolate, the better the quality of the finished product, just sayin').

equipment:

• 1 jelly roll pan (baking sheet with raised edges)
• 1 medium-sized saucepan and large spoon
• candy thermometer

ingredients:

• about 12 to 14 ounces of milk chocolate, finely chopped, divided in half (if you buy chocolate chips, chop them up into smaller pieces. They will melt better.)
• 9 ounces almonds, chopped fine, divided in half
• 1 pound of salted butter
• 2 cups white sugar, granulated

Lightly butter the jelly roll pan. Sprinkle half of the chopped nuts over the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle half of the finely chopped chocolate over the nuts. Set aside.

In a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter with the sugar. Cook to 300 degrees F, stirring constantly. When it reaches 300 degrees F, remove from heat. Quickly pour the cooked butter and sugar over the layers in the prepared jelly roll pan.

Sprinkle with the remaining chocolate and spread to the edges of the toffee with a knife or off-set spatula. Sprinkle with remaining nuts. Cool.

Break into pieces. Store in an airtight tin. Keeps for about a week at room temperature, but a month in the fridge.


Since gifts are largely about presentation, I think this looks nice, one of two ways, when given as a gift. Either in a single, large chunk per box or tin, wrapped in a large sheet of parchment inside the box, or, if broken into single-serving bites, in mini-muffins liners or candy paper cups, as you'd find in a box of chocolates.

I buy my ingredients fairly frugally, butter under $2 per pound, sugar under 40 cents per pound, chocolate as milk chocolate chips in bulk at WinCo for about $3 per pound, and whole almonds under $6 per pound. Making a half-batch (about 1  1/2 pounds of candy) costs me about $3.50. That's about 15 cents per ounce, or $2.40 per pound. (BTW, an ordinary candy bar at the grocery store, weighing about 1.50 to 2 ounces, costs between 40 and 50 cents per ounce, or $6.40 to $8.00 per pound, on average.)

Nature, nurture, or something else altogether

Sometimes I like to quantify my day by adding up how much money I've saved the family. I think a lot of us do this. Maybe it's because we've felt we needed to defend our frugal choices to others. Or, maybe it's our personality to want to count money, you know, we're the ones who always HAVE to be the banker in the game of Monopoly. Or, maybe it was our parents's training instilled, very thoroughly,  in us. Whatever the reason, I find the counting part to be very fun.

Yesterday was one of those "making and doing stuff" days. I made soy milk, strawberry jam with the wild strawberries, cut lavender for drying and using in some Christmas gifts, pulled the leaves off of a large cutting of dried oregano (will use some in a housewarming gift later this week) and a smaller cutting of dried thyme, did the laundry in cold water, had a meatless Monday sort of dinner, salvaged some purple tissue gift wrap before someone wrinkled it too badly to reuse, etc. I haven't added up all of the savings. But it sure made me feel good to know I'd been productive for the day.


I really think that for me, it's been a matter of having to defend my choices to others, as well as myself. And of course, keeping a tally like this really helps when one of those big bills needs paying. As I know I've done what I can, to be a good steward of our family's resources.

How about you? Do you like to keep a tally of how you've saved money for the day? Do you attach a number to the money that you've saved?

A little shopping last week -- frugal-style

With one daughter home most of last week (before her summer job began), we took some time to do a little shopping.

There are a couple of areas nearby with a selection of thrift stores. So, on Thursday, the two of us went thrifting. We hit 5 stores, and bought a total of 4 items between us, 2 of which were mine.

Here's what I bought:

A really great condition bath mat for the upstairs bathroom, to replace the fraying 15 year old mat. ($1.99) A good deal, considering it was in great condition.

And a butter warmer, by Farberware. Butter warmers are small saucepans, with a pour spout. Not just for warming butter, these are great for heating a cup of milk, cocoa, making fudge sauce for ice cream sundaes, or making small batches of gravy. A while ago, I had been looking at one of these by All-Clad, but priced at about $100, I nixed that thought. So I was delighted to find this one, by Farberware, for just $2.99. This model retails for about $20, and can be found on sale, or at Amazon, for about $10. It just needed a good scrub on the bottom, and good as new. For $2.99, I think I got a good deal.

I suppose I'm a rather particular shopper. In 5 stores, I only found 2 items (and spent just $5) that I wanted to buy. But we did have a great time shopping together.

Then on Friday, I had another $10 Kohl's coupon to use before the end of the weekend. I first hit the accessory department, where I found these sunglasses on clearance for $6 (originally $30). I've been needing sunglasses for a long time. And with summer just beginning, these will come in handy.

Next, I went up to the home decor department. The last time I was at Kohl's, I saw Christmas season door mats that I liked. But they were only marked down to $5 on that last shopping trip, so I had passed them up. Well, on Friday, they'd been marked down, again, to $2.49 (originally $24.99). "Pretty cheap" seems to be my price, so I picked up one of those.

That put me at $8.49. Needing to spend $10, before tax, I checked out the clearance candles and found a box of ivory tapers (6 tapers). I use tapers on the dining table for special occasions, so I knew these would be useful. The box was 70% off, at $2.99.

After tax and coupon, my out of pocket cost at Kohl's, for these 3 items, was $1.63. Not bad. What I love is how the receipts read. It assigns a portion of the $10 coupon to each item. So, the Christmas door mat cost 32 cents, the candles cost 38 cents, and the sunglasses cost 78 cents!


And finally, on Sunday. My daughter needed to return a purchase at Value Village. So I offered to drive her, and while there, we also went into St Vincent de Paul.

At Value Village, I found this linen pillowcase. I'd been pricing linen this past week, and one of the things I'd been looking for, while thrifting, was a linen table cloth, to use for the yardage, for a project for Christmas. Well, this linen pillowcase about jumped out at me. At 20 inches wide by 33 inches long, it's the perfect size to make 2 good-sized linen tea towels. I'll show you more about that project as I work on them. Anyways, $1.99 at Value Village, at not quite 1 yard of fabric. Plus the front hem is already done for me, with nice hem-stitch detailing.

And at St Vincent de Paul's, I found a cloth napkin to replace the one which went missing, months ago. Somehow, one of our burgundy cloth napkins has disappeared. 30 years ago, I bought 8 of these. They are a good color to go with the Toile de Jouy table cloth that I bought this winter. Twice now, I've used that new tablecloth with 8 at the table, only I've been short one cloth napkin. So, now I have a replacement and am back up to 8 in the set. To show you how close a match my find was, the napkin on the left is from the old set, and the one on the right is the "new" napkin. 49 cents plus tax. And if the lost one ever shows up, we have a spare to use in a basket for bread at the table.

A week's worth of shopping, and I spent less than $10, out of pocket.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for the first week of summer break

Friday

Black bean tacos
Carrot sticks
Fresh strawberries and sliced bananas

Saturday

Scrambled eggs
Fresh-baked bread and butter
Fresh strawberries

Sunday

Herb-crusted roast pork
Potato salad
Roasted vegetable medley
Strawberry, almond and mixed green salad
Dinner rolls
Watermelon pickles
Rhubarb-blackberry pie

Monday

Leftovers from Sunday

Tuesday

Egg Foo Yung with brown sauce
Brown rice
Oven-roasted carrots
Homemade English toffee

Wednesday

Garbanzo bean and vegetable soup, pureed
Dinner rolls (from last of refrigerator roll dough)
Fresh strawberries
English toffee

Thursday

Tomato-Florentine soup
Deviled eggs
Homemade bread
Fresh strawberries
Scratch cornstarch pudding (chocolate)


It's strawberry season in our garden. It looks like I have enough strawberries to pick, daily, for about 10 days, then the harvest will slow down. We're spoiled, I know. Our guests were delighted to have garden-fresh strawberries, last Sunday. I'm also using a lot of spinach this week, in salads, in the egg Foo Yung, and again last night in the tomato-Florentine soup. I have enough spinach in the garden for one more large picking, then we'll move onto something else.

I made a large batch of scratch cornstarch pudding yesterday afternoon -- 8 1/2-cup portions. We managed to fall behind in milk consumption. And with one freezer unplugged, we're low on freezer space for freezing surplus milk. Pudding it is! Two of my kids were home when I made it, and 2 servings were gobbled up before it even cooled. If you use a box for pudding, you really should give scratch pudding a try. The ingredients list is simply sugar, salt, cornstarch, flavoring (cocoa powder or vanilla extract) and milk. And for me, yesterday, I was able to make a quart of pudding for about 75 cents, including the milk.

Eggs are even lower priced this week, $6.98 for 15 dozen, at Cash & Carry. That's 47 cents per dozen.  I am tempted! I have about 9 dozen in the fridge right now. We're using eggs in place of meat or cheese many nights per week. At 47 cents per dozen, egg salad sandwiches for lunches is a bargain. Hmmmm. (Can you see the wheels turning in my head?)

So tell me, what was on your menu this past week?

What does a couple of years of my frugality look like?

In addition to saving for repairs and replacements of appliances, vehicles, emergencies, etc, we also have a savings kitty for upgrades to the house. We have money transferred every month, out of our bank account into an investment, for the non-necessary, but lovely-to-have improvements to our home and vacations. This account could be tapped for an emergency, or it can add to our retirement funds, down the road. But every so often, we use this money for something nice to use or have, like capital improvements, which could add to the salability of our home, if need be.

We don't do a lot of DIY with these improvements, instead only doing, ourselves, those things we are most familiar and comfortable with. We have a contractor friend from church, who has done a good deal of our installation. So, we save in the extreme sense, for a couple of years, to afford a project like what we had done this spring.

In the last two years, what I DIDN'T spend money on, so we could save to cover this:

• mani-pedis
• professional hair cuts and color
• new shoes, new handbags
• lunches in restaurants with friends
• fast food meals 
• dinners in local restaurants (except one birthday dinner, last November)
• new car
• extravagant travel
• convenience/packaged foods
• air conditioning for the house in summer
• winter heat enough to wear a t-shirt, indoors, in December, January, February
• knick-knacks, chotchkes, trinkets, novelties or thingamajigs
• department store cosmetics
• new books, new cds
• expensive hobbies and collections
• theater movies
• dvd rentals
• bouquets of flowers
• expensive birthday gifts or Christmas gifts for myself & husband
• new linens, just because I wanted a new color (I did replace the torn sheets for my bed)
• expensive new clothing
• brand-loyalty for products like laundry detergent, bathroom tissue, foods, toothpaste, soap, coffee, OTC meds
• coffeehouse coffee AKA Starbuck's (except with gift cards) 
• pets
• candy bars or other treats at the check-out of most stores (even Ace Hardware has candy bars at the check-out!)
• smartphone
• car wash places (I wash the car, myself with the hose)
• gardening services
• newspaper delivery
• new toys, gadgets, gizmos
• temporary indulgences, to be enjoyed only fleetingly

So, that about sums up where our money didn't go. Here's where all that I could have spent, but didn't, went instead. Our living room makeover. (I didn't take any before pictures. I rarely do. If it's bad enough for me to want to redo it, the last thing I want to do is take pictures of that ugly.)

the living room as you enter from the entry hall

the fireplace surround was dark brick,
the contractor over-layed Home Depot marble tile
the mirror over the fp is from Kohl's, on sale 50% off,
then $10 off coupon, I paid $39 (orig. $99)
the electric fireplace is new, puts out heat, too.
stuff on mantel gathered from other parts of the house

built-in bookcases, contractor built with paint-grade plywood,
for less $$$ than Home Depot cabinetry/bookcases
the small writing desk is a family piece, repurposed from another room,
it folds up and stands against the wall in the background, when not in use

a spot for my great grandmother's tea set,
on top of a garage sale cabinet (paid $40) that once housed
a Victrola phonograph (1920s) -- needs refinishing/painting

this chair is a new purchase

that's a fitted slipcover, so I can change it out/launder it

the paisley "throw" is a pashmina from my closet,
the needlepoint cushion is from another room

this table is a new purchase, it fits the space better than the hand-me-down,
1970's-era, over-sized Parson's table from my parents' home.
used some of the "stuff" I had in cupboards, some family pieces of silver-plate
 that I love, and candle sticks that never seemed to get used

the view of the room from the French doors, to the entry hall

We rarely ever used this room before. It had some lay-out problems. The seal on the old double-paned windows had broken, and so were permanently fogged on the inside. The wood-burning fireplace meant that we were dragging dirty logs into the house, across white carpeting, and making a mess, if ever it were used. (Plus most of the heat just went up the chimney, when we burned wood.) This room is far from the furnace, and would feel the chill more than the family room, kitchen or dining room.

It's now bright, warm and serves multiple purposes. There's a conversation area with seating for 6, plus 2 additional chairs in the room, to seat up to 8 comfortably. The loveseat with the blue cushions is about 30 years old, and will "go" with the first kid to move out. I'd like to replace it with a single chair (similar to the one we just bought). It's really too big for the space. I reupholstered it 20 years ago, and the upholstery is still in decent shape. The larger sofa is from my parents' home, and is about 35 years old (also reupholstered once).


So, when I'm making all kinds of sacrifices in the grocery department and not buying convenience foods, or, you read that we don't eat in restaurants, not even fast food, or, that we eat beans for dinner 3 to 4 nights per week, or, we don't go to the movies, or, that I cut my own hair, etc -- this is where the money that is saved, goes. It took us a couple of years of extreme saving for this. We have no debts, no mortgage, no car loans, no credit card debt. And our retirement is still being funded, monthly. We save, in advance, for home improvements and repairs, so there will be no future debts. This is what my "extreme" frugality gives to us.

Paint colors for the interior of our house

YHF asked about the name of the color of the walls in our living room. I thought I'd do one better, and show you the walls throughout most of the downstairs of our house.

living room walls -- Oyster White  trim/doors -- Swiss Coffee (Behr)

When we began the downstairs repainting, 7 years ago, I did what we all do, and went to Home Depot and thumbed through all of the paint chip cards. I was initially looking for colors for the family room and dining room. I found a paint card, which had several shades of browns and tans, that had a wall colors that I liked.

This is the wall color of the family room. It's called Cookie Crumb. Maybe I was hungry that morning that I was looking at colors. It really is the color of the cookie part of homemade Tollhouse cookies. I wanted a warm, cozy, enveloping color for these walls, a place to go and feel hugged by warmth. (Glidden)

Here is the color of the dining room walls. It's called First Anniversary. It's a rich, caramel-y shade of tan. I wanted a deep and dramatic color in the dining room. Our dining room is just opposite the hallway from the family room, so I knew I wanted the colors to blend. (Glidden)

And here's the color of the living room walls, the entry hall walls, the small hallway between the family room and dining room, and the upstairs hallway walls. It's called Oyster White. It's really not white at all, but light tan, with yellow undertones. Although it's tan, it gives the room a light and bright feeling, despite the gloomy, overcast days that we frequently have, here. (Glidden)

I also tried the darkest shade on this color card, American Bronze. It was far too greenish of a brown, once on the area above the family room fireplace. I wound up going with a completely different color (not on this card, it's a Ralph Lauren color, something like Saddle Brown, but I'm not positive). I had set my purse down, up against one of the painted walls in that room, and noticed that the leather on the purse was exactly the shade that would look good as a complementary brown to the cookie crumb (for above the fireplace). So, purse in hand, I went back to Home Depot to find a matching brown for that small spot.

The white trim in all of these rooms is a creamy white, called Swiss Coffee. There are a couple of Swiss Coffee colors, under different paint brands. This is the Behr brand of Swiss Coffee. If you google "Behr Swiss Coffee" and look at the images, there are a couple of interior photos where this shade of white has been used. When you compare "whites" it's amazing how much variance there really is.

What I discovered with multi-tonal paint cards is that the paint colors aren't always harmonious when on your walls. Lighting, both interior and natural, affects how we see light, as well as how much greenery there happens to be planted right outside your windows.

For reference, the colors on the paint card, up top, by Glidden, are from left to right: American Bronze, New Suede, First Anniversary, Cookie Crumb, Ivory Sampler and Oyster White.

We've had several compliments on the Cookie Crumb. It seems to be an appealing shade of tan to many people.

The good, the bad and the hard to cut *plus* a sneak peek at our redo

So, our menu on Sunday wound up as this:

Appetizers, snack-y stuff

• dry-roasted peanuts, bought at WinCo in the bulk bins, just enough to fill a small candy dish @ $1.55/lb -- cheaper to buy just exactly what we need, than to buy a large can
• crackers that I got for free as a Friday Freebie at Fred Meyer last week -- I definitely like that price, and the crackers were pretty good, a nice rice cracker that we enjoyed
• a cream cheese, cheddar cheese, chopped fresh thyme, chopped black olive and green onion (actually shallot tops from the garden) spread, using just what I had at home. It's my mom's recipe, and normally calls fro bleu cheese. But as I was doing this with what I had, I subbed cheddar.

The dinner

• roasted pork loin, herb crusted overnight, in a mixture of chopped thyme, chopped rosemary, kosher salt, garlic powder and black pepper -- the flavor was very good, it was just dry inside, and hard to cut with just a fork, slightly easier with a table knife, but really, we could have used steak knives with this roast.
• dinner rolls using my mom's recipe for refrigerator roll dough. It's a good one and the dough keeps for several days in the fridge. I always make them into crescents as that's what my mom did, and it's easy to shape, but looks grand.
• potato salad. I mentioned in the comments that potato salad was one of 2 food items specifically mentioned when I asked our guests what they think of when they think of potato salad. And it was pretty good. Our guests had seconds, always a good sign
• tossed salad of garden greens (lettuce and spinach), green onions (actually shallot tops/greens), sliced celery, lots of fresh strawberries, some toasted almond slices and a sweet vinaigrette. This salad was a big hit with Angie's dad. He asked for this salad bowl, specifically, to be passed back to him. And they were very delighted to have the strawberries from our garden. Plus it was pretty to look at.
• Mushrooms sauteed in butter, with fresh thyme. I was cleaning out the fridge on Saturday, making room for all of the food I was preparing, and I came across these two boxes of fresh baby portabello mushrooms I'd bought on markdown earlier in the week. They needed cooking up. And I just thought they'd be delicious with the dinner. 
• oven-roasted zucchini, green pepper, onion, tomato, garlic medley. I went to the produce stand near WinCo on Friday and got the zucchini for 79 cents per pound, the Roma tomato for 99 cents per pound, a yellow onion for 50 cents per pound, and a green pepper for 69 cents. It was delicious, colorful and a nice contrast in flavor from everything else. And as we only ate half of the veggies I prepared, we had the rest for last night's dinner.
• watermelon pickles. Of everything we ate, the watermelon pickles seemed to garner the most attention. It was the last of my last jar, too. So, I'll be needing to make more watermelon pickles this year.
• blackberry-rhubarb pie. It was good, but just "normal" tasting to me. We were all full at that point, so I don't know how much it was enjoyed. But it looked pretty. I didn't feel like making a lattice crust (too much work, weaving it all, in and out), so I just used a small, heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut vents into the crust before laying it onto the fruit -- larger and prettier than slits.

• lots of Jasmine tea. This was the one thing I made sure would be something they might like and be very familiar with. I made several pots of Jasmine tea over the course of the dinner.
• water goblets with filtered, chilled water and a lime slice in each glass.

I began preparing, by setting the table, cleaning up the main floor, thoroughly cleaning the powder room (and then closing the door to keep family out until Sunday) last week. Then on Saturday, I had a marathon cooking day. I was able to prepare about half of everything on Saturday. Sundays' cooking was more manageable that way. And by about an hour before our guests arrived, I was able to make myself a cup of coffee and sit down for a bit. That worked well for me to recoup my energy for the evening.

So, some thoughts should we have the opportunity to have them as our guests again. The meat was tough, and I think I should stick with meats that I'm more comfortable cooking, or in ways that I'm more comfortable, or use an electric knife to cut the slices even thinner. In other words, the meat needed some improvement.

The pie -- our wild blackberries are seedy, but we don't notice them any more, we've eaten them for so long. However, I think the seeds took our guests by surprise. I wish I'd thought of that beforehand. In the future, if I make a pie, I would steer clear of anything seedy. What might have also been good is a pumpkin pie, as that's a pretty standard American pie.

On the positive side, I think I guessed right, that our guests would want something typically American. When we talked about some of their plans before they go back to Shanghai later this week, they said they wanted to go to an American shopping mall, and have the American shopping experience. And if I went to another country, I think that's what I'd like most, too, to experience their cuisine and culture. 

As they had been so kind and generous when my son visited Shanghai this spring, I did want to give them a small gift of thanks. I found a coffee-table type book about Seattle. There's very little text, just lots of photos. The book itself was an ice breaker, of sorts, when they first arrived, as they opened it right away and we could all look at the photos of various landmarks in their daughter's area.

I think our guests enjoyed themselves. I know that we all enjoyed the opportunity to get to know them a bit. And Chris and Angie were both happy all evening long. Successful evening. 

Before dinner, we sat in the living room, where we had the new doors installed. I'll give you a full tour later this week, but thought you might like a sneak peek today. I hope we make many happy family memories, in our rehabbed living room. And now we can actually see out the windows! (Old windows were double-paned, but the seal was broken and the windows were permanently fogged.)

Thanks so much to all of you, as you helped me with my planning of a VIM (very important meeting). Very much obliged!

Have a great day!

Our dinner with our son's girlfriend's parents went great!

We enjoyed meeting her parents, and even with a communication barrier, conversation flowed rather smoothly. They're lovely people, just like their daughter. :-)

I'll relay more details later. Right now, I'm bushed!

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers with simplicity in mind

Friday

Black olive and cheese pizza, homemade
Green salad with rhubarb dressing

Saturday

Black bean tacos
Kale sauteed in chicken fat, seasoned with garlic and onion powder, and soy sauce
Blackberry-rhubarb crisp

Sunday

Spinach frittata topped with quick marinara sauce, over
Spaghetti noodles
Tossed green salad
Fresh strawberries

Monday

Soybean and sesame seed patty
Marinated black beans and celery over mixed garden greens
French bread and butter
Leftover brown rice
Fresh strawberries and banana slices

Tuesday

Cheese strata
Mixed green salad
Fresh strawberries

Wednesday

Baked beans
Cornbread
Frozen spinach
Dried cranberries

Thursday

Meatloaf
Mushrooms and pasta, with meatloaf gravy
Canned green beans

We only had meat one night in this past week. I've substituted eggs, for meat, twice. We had a bean dish on 3 nights. I've been very busy, with cleaning and preparing for my son's girlfriend's graduation dinner and driving my daughters here and there for end of quarter stuff. So, dinners have needed to be as simple as possible for me to prepare. Yesterday was the last day of finals. Today is the last day to turn in rented books. And Monday begins one daughter's summer job. The other daughter has a week-long break until her job begins.

Preparing breakfasts and lunches during summer is a little less complicated, by being predictable. The change of seasons also brings change of menu offerings. I think we'll be back to yogurt and muffins for breakfasts, most days. And salads, breads and fruit, for lunches. Changing things up makes my job more interesting.

How about you -- any changes in your menus, as summer is beginning?

Fruit and cream cheese stuffed French toast casserole *plus* the savory version

This is a great brunch dish as well as supper. It's less hands-on than making pancakes or waffles, freeing me to pull together the rest of a brunch set-up, or work on other projects in the late afternoon.

You put the casserole together the night before (for a brunch dish) or anytime during the day (for supper). It only takes about 1 hour to sit, before baking, but can be held in the fridge overnight, if needed.

For 3 or 4 servings, I use an 8 X 8-inch Pyrex baker. For 4 or 5 servings, a 7 X 11-inch casserole. And for 6 to 8 servings,  an 9 X 11-inch casserole (all Pyrex).

For each serving, count on 1 full sandwich (2 slices of bread). Stale bread works best. If the bread is too soft, it becomes mushy in the egg batter.

Ingredients:

the sandwiches

cream cheese (about 4 ounces)
sliced bread, whole wheat, white, French (my favorite is French bread, but I also use whole wheat sandwich bread)
fresh or frozen fruit -- berries, peaches, plums, nectarines, bananas (sweetened, if desired)
jam or jelly (optional, I leave it out when I want a less-sweet casserole)
soft butter (about 1 & 1/2 tablespoons)

the egg batter

3 eggs
2 cups milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Butter the casserole dish well.

Make sandwiches, spreading 1 to 2 tablespoons cream cheese on one slice of bread, and jam/jelly plus a tablespoon or 2 of sliced or whole fruit on the other slice. Put the slices with cream cheese on the slice with jam and fruit and place in casserole dish. Spread the tops of each sandwich with a teaspoon of soft butter.

Blend together eggs, milk, salt, sugar and vanilla extract. Pour over the baking dish of sandwiches and allow to sit for 45 minutes.

Turn each sandwich over and allow to sit another 15 minutes. (If keeping overnight in the fridge, cover with a sheet of plastic wrap.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until eggs are set and edges are looking lightly browned.

Remove from oven. Top with additional fruit and powdered sugar.


and the savory version:

Cheese Strata or Baked Cheese Fondue

My mom's c.1970 cookbook calls this Baked Cheese Fondue. In university, we had this in the dorm for lunches, and they called it Cheese Strata (makes sense, layers, or strata, of bread and cheese). I tend to call it Strata.

This is the basic recipe. You can add sliced or cubed, cooked meat (ham, sausage, chicken, turkey), cooked veggies, like asparagus, or leftover cooked greens, or, just as a plain cheese, egg and bread dish, with a nice salad or fruit on the side.

To serve 4 to 6

Ingredients:

10 thick slices of a narrow loaf of French bread, or 6 large slices of wide-pan bread, cut in half -- stale is best
4 eggs
2 and 2/3 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
cayenne pepper
1/3 cup chopped green onions, chives, or green tops of garden onions (I use the tops of my growing shallots for green onions)
1 tablespoon of soft butter
1  1/2 cups of shredded cheese, divided into 1 cup and 1/2 cup
any extra seasonings that you think you'd like with this. Mustard powder is good. I used some chili powder to give it a kick the other night when we had it.

Butter an 8 X 8-inch Pyrex casserole dish.

Beat eggs, milk, salt and pepper (and any other seasonings you are wanting) together. Stir in green onions.

Place half of the bread into the dish, cutting the last slice of bread to fit tightly in the casserole dish. Top with 1 cup of cheese. Place other half of bread on top. Spread the soft butter on top of the top slices of bread. Pour the egg batter over all of the slices of bread.

Allow to stand for 1 hour.

Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese.

Bake in a preheated 325 degree F oven, for 40 minutes, or until eggs are set.

Price comparison of frying my own taco shells vs boxed taco shells

Seasoned black bean, olive, cheese, lettuce and salsa tacos

We eat tacos about once a week in our house. I use corn tortillas to make my own shells. I buy 72-count packages of corn tortillas (Cash & Carry, the ethnic market and Win Co all carry the large packages of corn tortillas), for $2.18, or about 3 cents per tortilla. The best price I ever find on pre-made taco shells in a regular supermarket, is in boxes of 10 for $1, on dollar sales, or 10 cents each. (Cash & Carry also sells cases of 200 taco shells, for $14-something a case, or 7 cents each shell. I did buy these once. They were a convenience, and would consider buying them again, for convenience.)

4 cents per shell for homemade, compared to 10 cents per shell in a box

The most oil I might possibly use when frying tacos is about 4 ounces per batch of 10-12 tacos, or 7  1/2 cents worth of oil for a batch. That works out to less 2/3 of a cent per taco, bringing my cost per taco up to 3 and 2/3 cents per shell. If you throw in natural gas for the stove (at about a penny for 30 minutes, total for all 12 tacos), I'm just short of 4 cents per shell, still less than half of my best supermarket price per shell. (And even if I underestimate my oil use, and if I double the oil cost, it's still under 4 and 1/2 cents per taco shell. But I do think it's around 4 ounces, or 1/2 cup for the whole batch.)

If I'm making on average 11 tacos per week, frying the corn tortillas myself, I'm saving 66 cents on taco shells each week, or $34.32 per year, over buying a 10-ct box of pre-made shells, each week, for $1 at the grocery store.

Keeping the corn tortillas from cracking when I fold them

The only problem with frying packaged corn tortillas is they seem to split when you fold them in half. There's a way around that, though. Here's how I fry my taco shells.

(If you've ever had a Jack-in-the-Box cheap taco (they used to be 2/$1, a few years ago), then you have an idea of how I make mine. I fry the tacos with the beans/meat/rice inside, then add cold fillings, like cheese and lettuce.)

The shell to the left is the one I'm softening, so it won't crack at the fold.
The one on the right is a filled taco frying.

To start, I put some oil into a skillet and heat over Medium. When the oil is hot, I take a flat, corn tortilla, and pinch two opposite edges, loosely. I hold the tortilla so the bottom of the fold, only, is in the oil. I hold here for 60 seconds. This softens the tortilla and makes the fold flexible so it won't crack.

Then I remove the tortilla from the oil, fill with my beans/rice and or meat, and return to the oil, to fry on each side. There's enough room in the skillet for me to be frying one taco, while I softening the next taco shell to be filled. It all goes very quickly, taking about 30 minutes of frying time for 12 tacos.

(I could halve the time spent by using a large skillet, and frying 2 tacos at a time. But you know -- a creature of habit; been doing this since my single days and only frying 1 taco for myself.)


Anyways, when I'm looking to cut grocery costs, I break down the price on different menu items, including all expenses to make the item, and compare to my available options.

Frying your own taco shells might not be as advantageous for you, as you may pay more for tortillas and/or oil than I do. Or maybe you do a lot of couponing, and can buy ready-made shells for what my cost is in making them. You would have to do the cost comparison with your own prices for the tortillas, oil and energy used by your stove.

Sometimes, I do one of these cost breakdowns and I find making a food from scratch is not the most economical. Making my own tomato paste from store-bought tomatoes was one item that was more costly to make than to buy. It's worth it to do the calculations, so I can make informed choices.


FYI -- we rarely have meat-filled tacos. Most of the time I use refried beans, leftover beans and rice, or as in these tacos, seasoned black beans with olives. Then I add cheese, lettuce, tomatoes (if we have any) and salsa. Our tacos this last week cost about 85 cents for 10 tacos -- a bargain supper.

I've come up with a menu for that special date

Less than a week away is my son's girlfriend's graduation. We'll be hosting a dinner that evening for our family, my son's girlfriend and her parents, a total of 8 of us. I've decided on a menu. I took all of your comments and think I came up with something very doable for me.

It's high points:

• much of it can be done ahead (like the roll dough, the potato salad, chopping the rhubarb and vegetables)
• it uses some produce from our garden
• it also uses a cut of meat which I got a good deal on at Cash & Carry
• the menu is not too fussy
• it contains no dairy
• and it features some all-American foods, like pie and potato salad

Here it is:

Herb-crusted roast pork loin (Cash & Carry for $1.68/lb)

Potato salad (a very typical summer American food, and it's easy to make ahead)

Garden lettuce and spinach, garden strawberry, garden green onions, celery, toasted almond salad

Overnight dinner rolls

Casserole of summer vegetables (zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic -- these will have to come out of the grocery budget)

Watermelon pickles

Rhubarb and blackberry pie

I'll put out something snack-y, too, for before dinner.

I considered a barbecue, but our weather in the PNW can be so unpredictable in June. We're expecting more showers later this week, and that could bleed over into the weekend.

What do you all think? Any other suggestions or advice?

How I do Huevos Rancheros

Last 6 months -- egg prices peaked in February and have been steadily dropping since, as you may have found at stores in your area. Across the US, retail and restaurant demand is light to moderate, whereas supplies are moderate, presently (USDA Egg Market News Report).

What this means for the consumer is right now, eggs are very affordable for most parts of the US. Kris mentioned buying eggs for 49 cents per dozen at Aldi's last week. I bought a case of 15 dozen at Cash & Carry for 57 cents per dozen. (Cash & Carry's price for 1 dozen extra large eggs, in individual cartons was 99 cents on Friday, which is a great price for eggs, as it is.)

So, as eggs are now the "cheap" animal protein source, I plan on featuring them heavily in dinner menus for the next 2 months. (I still have my frozen supply of eggs to use in the fall and winter months.) We'll be substituting egg dishes for meat-based ones, once or twice per week. (Having eggs for dinner is only a cost savings if we substitute eggs for a more expensive meal, like meat.)

If I use 9 large eggs (that's 18 ounces, or a little over 1 lb. of eggs), bought at 57 cents per dozen, there's enough animal protein for dinner for 5 of us, at a cost of about 43 cents. Compared to making a Mexican dinner with ground beef, at a cost of $2 per pound for the beef, eggs come out the winner for a budget meal.

Over the next couple of weeks, I thought I'd share some of our family's favorite ways to serve eggs for dinner, beginning with my version of Huevos Rancheros.


This is one of those super quick suppers, for busy afternoons and evenings. I can have this ready to bake in the amount of time it takes to preheat the oven.

Technically, this is somewhere between Huevos a la Mexicana and Huevos Rancheros. Real HR uses fried eggs. But I don't care for fried eggs, and my way is less hands-on.

Baked Huevos Rancheros


To serve 4 or 5 adults:

Preheat oven to 365 degrees F.

Generously butter a large quiche dish (a large pie plate will also work).

In a medium bowl, whisk together: 

• 9 eggs
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon water

Pour into prepared dish. Top with: 

• a large handful of shredded cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack or Pepper Jack

Bake for about 15-20 minutes, until the edges are very puffy, but center is still indented.

Remove from oven, and spoon over the top:

• 1 cup of salsa, then
• another large handful of shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese or Pepper Jack
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sliced black olives

Return to oven for 5-7 minutes, or until cheese is melted and eggs are set. Be careful not to over-brown the underside.

optional -- sprinkle with chopped cilantro after baked.

Cut into wedges. Use a table knife to go all around the edge. Serve wedges with:

• warm corn tortillas, and 
• cooked black beans or refried beans. 

If you cut the wedges slim, you can fold the eggs up in the corn tortillas, like soft tacos. These eggs also make a great filling for breakfast burritos for a crowd. Use flour tortillas, put a slim wedge and some refritos on each tortilla, and roll up. 

(Olives are not at all authentic, here. We just like them. But if you want to leave them out, your privilege.)

More on house-painting supplies

The other day, in the comments, YHF mentioned a product called Floetrol Latex Paint Conditioner. That jogged my memory to dig ours out. About 18 years ago, I was painting the upstairs bedrooms, and I bought this container of Floetrol for the trim paint.

Floetrol's primary purpose is for paint-sprayers. You add a little bit to the paint going into the paint-sprayer, and it keeps the nozzle from clogging.  It's beneficial in other painting applications, too.

When I bought Floetrol, I did so for the trim work and doors. I was painting with a brush and wanted to minimize brush strokes. This product was recommended for satin and semi-gloss paint. You add a little to the paint and it lengthens the dry-time long enough for the paint to level out and reduce visible brush marks. Many claim that by adding Floetrol to your latex paint, it gives an oil-based paint appearance, but with a water-based paint.

It also provides that extra bit of time to prevent lap marks when overlapping areas with brush or roller. And I've used it when I've been working with an open can for an entire day, just mixing in a couple of tablespoons, after about 3 or 4 hours, to keep the paint at a good consistency.

YHF mentioned another use for Floetrol. She said that the professional painters sometimes use it in a small container for their brushes, while they paint. It keeps the paint from drying or thickening on the brush during a long day of painting, keeping the project flowing smoothly and extending the life of their brushes.

So, I decided to give this a try. I had two brushes I was planning on using, for the trim around the French doors, applying two full coats and one additional partial coat on part of the trim that would need extra paint. One of the brushes was a standard, 2-inch brush, the other a small craft brush, for getting into tight spots.

I poured about 1/4 cup of Floetrol into a small glass cup, and that's where I kept my brushes all day, swapping out larger for smaller, as I needed. Between coats of paint, I just put a plastic bag over the cup and the open can. At the end of the day of painting, I had about 2 tablespoons of Floetrol (very infused with paint) left in the cup which I poured into my paint can, to condition the paint after a day of having the can open. (The maximum Floetrol to paint, shouldn't exceed a 1:4 ratio, no more than 1 quart Floetrol per every gallon of paint.) It worked well in keeping my brushes and paint in good condition all day.

Floetrol is not cheap, at around $20-something per gallon. There's another brand, also used by professionals -- XIM Latex Extender and Leveling Additive that I believe is less expensive. However, it does keep for a long time. This container I've had is about 18 years old and still works as it did when I bought it. Because of its cost, I use it judiciously. But I think it's worth it, especially on interior trim, doors, cabinets and furniture, to get a professionally-finished look, but at a fraction of the cost.

If you're a yard-saler, you might want to keep your eyes open for this product. It's the sort of thing that people cleaning out their garages might put up for sale. If you check the contents and see that it's still liquid, it's very likely that it's still in good condition, even if the container looks old.

The other thing I wanted to share with you is the kind of craft brush that I use when house-painting. I have an assortment of craft brushes, for use with acrylic craft paints. A small flat brush works well when getting into those tight spots or up against another surface that I don't want to, or can't easily, tape off.

On this project, I used the #10 flat brush to paint right up against the deck, the threshold of the door-frame, and the side edge of the trim against the door frame. This flat brush has short, stiff bristles, which help control where the paint is going, like using a felt pen. Indoors, I use it at the top of a room's walls, where walls meet ceiling. In the upstairs bedrooms, we have popcorn ceiling, still. You can't tape that surface. So, I use the craft brush to "draw" my top edge of the wall with paint.

House painting is not my favorite task. But if I use some good tools, it makes the work easier and neater, and I finish up sooner.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for the very last of May and beginning of June (using up stuff from the freezers)

Friday

Blackberry and cream cheese stuffed French toast casserole

Saturday

Meatball goulash
Toasted buns

Sunday

Home-style macaroni and cheese
Scrambled eggs with bacon bits
Canned green beans
Pumpkin bread
Dried cranberries

Monday

Herb-crusted roast pork loin
Brown rice
Oven-roasted sweet potato wedges
Green salad with rhubarb dressing
Rhubarb-blackberry gelatin
Cream puffs filled with whipped cream and topped with strawberries (all from the freezer)

Tuesday

Leftover brown rice with turkey gravy from freezer
Baked beans combined with leftover refried beans from last week
Sauteed cabbage (last of the head) and kale from garden, in bacon fat, topped with some leftover brown sauce from when I made soy bean patties on Monday
Cornbread, from scratch, using slightly sour milk I had frozen for baking

Wednesday

Curried pumpkin and peanut soup, with some shredded, fresh spinach thrown in for an extra veggie
Yorkshire pudding wedges
Cream cheese and pecan stuffed celery

Thursday

Baked Huevos Rancheros
Brown rice topped with last of the turkey gravy
Oven-roasted carrots



I didn't feel well over the weekend. Dinners had to be super easy. It's end of the quarter for my two daughters, which means I haven't had them to help, when I'm not feeling well. And my son isn't home as much, any more (work/girlfriend/meeting up with friends). My husband doesn't cook, ever, period. So, I have to come up with super-easy ideas. The stuffed French toast was good, quick, and I could prepare it early in the day, then pop it in the oven a half-hour before dinner, and cut and serve. Nothing else with it, except glasses of milk.

The meatball goulash was something I just dumped into the crockpot early in the day, all but the frozen meatballs. I added rice, canned tomatoes, various liquids from fridge, black olives, sliced celery, cooked garbanzo beans, herbs, spices (especially paprika) and  cooked until the rice was soft, then topped with meatballs to heat through for 30 minutes. I split and toasted 2 hamburger buns, and that was dinner.

Sunday's dinner had only a bit more effort involved, but I spread that over a whole afternoon. Monday, I did put several hours into cooking, again spread out over a day. By Tuesday, I was feeling better and could do more, both with cooking and getting things done around the house and outside.

I'm also cleaning out the freezers. I emptied the stand-alone freezer, on Wednesday. I unplugged it and have left it off for a month or two. As I was cleaning it out, it made for some interesting meal combos. But a few treats emerged as well.

What was on your menu this past week? Did you have a traditional cook-out or barbecue for Memorial Day? I felt lucky to just do a pork loin for dinner. It was delicious and everybody enjoyed it. So, I guess that's what counts.

Have a great weekend!

Saving *is* earning for May

This is the rug I got at Kohl's, for free, to go by the door to the garage

Groceries

• this isn't anything I did, but something that was given to us, for which we were very grateful. At a time when we were needing some fresh fruit in the house, a large tray of fresh grapes were given to us. This saved us a couple of dollars on produce for the month.
• I made a batch of barbeque sauce, using tomato paste, lemon juice, soy sauce, molasses, honey, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, paprika, celery seed, cloves and black pepper
• made a batch of creamy Italian salad dressing, using mayo, chive blossom vinegar, vegetable oil, garlic granules, onion powder, salt and pepper. Poured into a used Italian Salad dressing bottle. When that ran out, I made a couple of batches of Rhubarb Salad Dressing (using this recipe).
• used my Senior discount at Fred Meyer on May 3, and saved about $10 overall (included some gardening items)
• brought calculator when grocery shopping to aid in comparing prices, as well as calculating my grocery total at WinCo, so I wouldn't go over my on-hand cash (WinCo doesn't take credit cards)
• shopped with a list, and stuck to it (I resisted temptation to buy extras, over and over. That was har at times, but I kept reminding myself of our financial goals to stay on track. Saving now, means a holiday, later.)
• froze remaining eggs from major stock-up before Easter
• made soy milk from dried soy beans. Used the leftover pulp (okara) in soy bean patties.
• used the green tops from the radishes as a vegetable in quiche and frittata
• all meals were prepared and eaten at, or packed from, home
• earned a $5.69 "reward" coupon to use as payment at Fred Meyer on groceries to use in the next few weeks
• prepared all meals at home for entire month
• made a batch of chive blossom vinegar
• harvested and dried oregano

Clothing/grooming/health/personal

• delayed coloring hair by almost 3 weeks, using a touch-up wand for roots (this was mostly out of laziness, but it saved money, so I get points, right?)
• bought 2 boxes of hair coloring on a B1G1 half-off, even though I still had one box left in the cupboard
• bought a pair of slippers at Kohl's for $2.20, using a $10 off coupon
• made a pair of pajama shorts for the summer, from a well-worn bed sheet

Household/garden

• cleaned 4-year old spots on living room carpet with about 2 tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide and a cotton t-shirt rag, followed up by blotting with a white paper napkin
• scrubbed the deck with a brush and washed off with hose, saving money ($37 rental fee if I had rented a pressure washer) and water (pressure washers use a lot of water, compared to scrubbing and rinsing). Plus, I got free exercise -- no need to join a gym!
• did house-painting myself, instead of hiring a professional, and used paint we already had in the garage -- saved in the $100s by doing it myself.
• made another batch of potting soil for the pots at the entry to our house
• finished planting the vegetable garden, added beets and chard where the spring radishes had been, pulled fall chard out and put in green beans
• harvested bushels of rhubarb for sauces, crisps, pies, salad dressing and jam (I have 6 large plants, started with 3 root divisions, then divided myself, some to replant, some to give away. 6 plants seems to be the right amount for us.)
• the day after I bought the slippers at Kohl's, I received another $10 off coupon in the mail. I went back to Kohl's and this time bought a small rug for the door to the garage. We'd been needing something there for several years. It was regularly priced at $19.99, on sale for $9.99. I needed to spend one more penny to use the coupon. In the clearance section, I found another Hallmark Christmas gift wrap bag, for 24 cents (originally $2.99). My total purchase came to 25 cents, including tax, which I paid for with a gift card that I bought at Fred Meyer, when they were having a bonus fuel rewards promotion (4 X fuel rewards on gift cards). I looked at several items at Kohl's. I was unsure about just about everything. But I figured if whatever I bought was practically free, I wouldn't regret it. So, since a rug for that back door had been on my list for years, and it was free, I felt okay with this choice. I can be so indecisive when shopping, I even annoy myself!

Restaurant meals

• planned my lunches in advance on days when I'd be busy in the mornings or away from home at lunchtime, to avoid temptation to stop and pick up a bite to eat while out.

Gas for cars

• tracked survey opportunities and filled out 4 online surveys for a savings of 20 cents per gallon
• saved a total of 70 cents/gallon on one tank of gas, using fuel rewards 

Birthdays/holidays

• sent a gift that I bought on sale and with a coupon, after Christmas, as a birthday gift this month. I went online to USPS rate calculator, to determine which method and packaging type would be most economical for my gift, and made sure to get it to the PO in plenty of time, so I wouldn't have to send it expedited delivery. Used one of the birthday cards that I bought in April, on clearance at Jo Ann's Fabrics at about 92% off (under 30 cents per card).
• Mother's Day was spent at home, instead of going someplace where we'd spend money. My daughters provided lunch, and we made dinner out of items I had on hand -- hot dogs, homemade buns, fruited gelatin salad, green salad, leftover pasta salad and s'mores for dessert. For the s'mores -- I'd bought graham crackers at Dollar Tree in early April, chocolate candies on clearance at Dollar Tree after Easter, last year, and marshmallows, on sale and with senior discount almost a year ago. For a "special" beverage at lunch, I made lemonade, using some flat lemon-lime soda, that had been opened when my daughter had a bad tummy virus, months ago, but never used up, plus some bottled lemon juice, sugar and water.
• sent birthday cards (2) to siblings, one bought at Dollar Tree for 50 cents, the other bought on clearance at Jo Ann Fabric's for 29 cents.
• I'm crafting some 4th of July decorations

Utilities

• began the outdoor air-drying of laundry, with racks brought out to the deck
• switched over to cold/cold on all laundry, after using warm/cold for winter washing
• bought 3 more soaker hoses to use in vegetable and fruit gardens. These should reduce the water bill, and will last for many years. One soaker hose was placed under landscape fabric in pumpkin patch, and this will hopefully help conserve city water, as well as promote better growth in pumpkin plants
• I used a timer with appliances, more this month. Using the timer feature on the tumble dryer, with a batch of towels for 20 minutes before hanging to dry, instead of the moisture sensor, which could run for an hour with a full load of towels. I used the timer while simmering chicken bones for stock. I might have simmered the stock for 4 hours or more, instead used a time for 1 hour. Same thing with cooking dried beans, I set the timer.
• used vegetable rinse water for pots on the deck as well as garden beds
• am trying out some water absorbing crystals in 2 pots in front yard which always need daily watering in summer. I bought the crystals in a small packet on Senior Discount day (saved 10%). You only use a couple of teaspoons of the crystals per pot, per year, and the packet keeps indefinitely, if in a sealed bag.
• used the crockpot numerous times in the month

Finances

• made out budget plan for the month and stuck to it. Paid all bills, in full, and on time (online/by phone when more advantageous to do so)

Fun stuff

• one daughter really wanted to see a play at the Seattle ACT theater. Instead of buying a ticket, she volunteered to usher, and saw the play for free.
• both daughters and I enjoyed a free breakfast the day before Mother's Day. We each had a free pastry on our Panera cards (birthday -- Panera is really generous with expiration dates), and used gift cards (for girls) and one free drink card (me) at Starbuck's for beverages. (Back in December, the barista made a couple of goofs on my decaf pour-over. She eventually got it right, but because I had to wait for 15 minutes or so, she gave me a card for 1 free drink, up to $5.)
• my husband got 2 free tickets to a movie and took one daughter
• one daughter had a performance on campus in mid-May, one evening. It was free to attend, and I would have to drive down there anyway to get her afterward. So I met up with the other daughter, brought a picnic dinner for the two of us and we enjoyed our dinner in the late afternoon sunshine on the grass. I packed: slices of quiche, individual containers of salad and pumpkin bread. Really enjoyable evening! And it was FREE!
• son and his girlfriend went to the second performance of the same show, a week later, for a free date
• Mother's Day dinner was a cookout around the fire ring. Homemade hot dog buns, hot dogs bought with Senior Discount, for 71 cents/package, green salad from garden, rhubarb-blackberry gelatin salad from garden, s'mores made with Dollar Tree graham crackers, marshmallows from pantry, and clearance Easter chocolate candies from last year.

Freebies

• a tray of red grapes and 2 tangerines from church coffee hour
• 1 loaf of Sara Lee bread (Friday Freebie)
• a gift of some tea and a nice chocolate bar
• 3 pastries at Panera
• 1 free beverage at Starbuck's
• 2 candy bars from Fred Meyer (Friday Freebie)
• 1/2 pound of fresh strawberries from church coffee hour to take home
• downloaded an entire album through Freegal onto my laptop
• 1 layer cake
• 2 pounds of mushrooms
• several sandwiches and fresh grapes