My Fall Baking Ingredients Price List

Since fall is the season to stock up on baking ingredients at rock-bottom prices for the year, I find it helpful to make a price list for all of these items. Prices on various baking ingredients fall to their lowest levels from October through December each year. By stocking up, now, I can save a substantial amount of money compared to buying these items in winter, spring, or summer. Making a price list for these items may sound tedious. However, this is a component of keeping my grocery budget to a super-low $125 to $135 per month for 4 adults.

In early October, I create a price list for all of the baking ingredients for which I'd like to have a good supply. This sort of list can be as simple as notes written on a sheet of lined paper or, if you're like me, a detailed spread sheet to be printed out. 

I use an app that came on my Mac to make a table. I include all of the stores at which I am likely to shop across the top of the table and all of the items that I need to buy along the side of the table. 

Once the table is made, I go online and find as many of the prices as I can for each item and enter them in the blank boxes, along with brand name and unit price (per ounce/pound, etc). For those prices that I can't find online, I take a printed copy of my sheet with me when shopping during the early weeks of October, filling in the blocks as I shop. Because I gather so many prices from the different stores in my area, I feel confident that I can identify those rock-bottom prices for the season when I spot them. 

I stick to items and ingredients that I can't easily make at home. I've discovered that I can make a reasonable facsimile to a few baking ingredients, including graham crackers, sweetened condensed milk, and brown sugar. Depending on my budget and the amount of time I estimate I'll have for the current holiday season, I may or may not include those items in my price list. 

In addition to listing the name of each item, I make a guess at how much of the particular ingredients that I would like to have. I think through all of the coming holidays and birthday celebrations for which I'll bake treats and desserts. (For example, I bake birthday cakes for anyone who has a birthday, so I know that I will need several bags of powdered sugar for making cake icing.) This is my baking ingredients wish-list. I may or may not be able to buy each ingredient in the quantities that I desire due to store limits or my budget, but I try. I've never had a grocery budget as low as I do this year. Stocking up will be something of a challenge.

This year, my price list includes:

• milk, semi-sweet, and white chocolate chips
• butterscotch baking chips
• flaked coconut
• marshmallows, mini and large
• dipping chocolate
• powdered sugar
• peanuts
• mixed nuts
• almonds
• pecans
• butter
• canned pumpkin
• fresh cranberries
• raisins
• dates
• dried cranberries
• cream cheese
• whipping cream

In addition, I have some items on hand for which I do not need to shop. These are items that I would otherwise have on my list. Those include: 

• corn syrup 
• molasses
• granulated sugar
• maple, vanilla, almond, lemon, peppermint, and butter extracts
• paste food coloring
• colored sprinkles in many shapes and colors (green and red included)
• cocoa powder
• spices, such as cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, cardamom, mace

As mentioned above, some baking ingredients I can make from what I have on hand. For this year, those include a substitute for sweetened, condensed milk, brown sugar, and baking powder (this super easy substitute is in this link).

By keeping a stock of some basic ingredients, I should be able to make candies (such as toffee, chocolate and fruit bark, sweet and spicy nuts, and dipped pretzels), cookies (bar, drop, and rolled), cakes, quick breads, pies, cheese cakes, and sweet yeast breads and rolls not only this fall, but throughout the year. And I can make all of those foods at my lowest, possible cost. 

Frugal living sometimes requires tedious work. From my perspective, these sort of chores can pay big dividends and allow my family to live large on a small budget.

Do you stock up on baking ingredients during the fall and holiday season? What's on your list? Do you compare prices on stock-up ingredients between stores?


You'll find this post, and many others like it, just a click away on this page -- a compilation of my recipes, shopping lists, and menu plans that illustrates how I feed my family of 4 adults on $125 to $135 per month.

Details of My No-Cost Autumn Table Decor

About ten days ago I showed you a photo of our kitchen table for autumn. Today I'm in the kitchen making yogurt and doing some baking, so I thought now might be a good time to share more about the table setting.

The Tablecloth
We almost always use tablecloths on this table because, well, 3 kids + 32 years = lots of scars. To hide the very worn surface, I throw some sort of covering over it year round.

Several people have commented on this year's autumn tablecloth. One friend told me that she had never seen a tablecloth that is so strikingly "masculine." Another friend who adores everything about Ralph Lauren home decor asked if this was a RL tablecloth.

Personally, I think my own plaid tablecloth is more attractive that Mr. Lauren's, judging from what I could find in online images.







A "tablecloth" does not need to be an actual tablecloth, a piece of fabric that has been dedicated, through cutting and hemming, for the sole purpose of table covering. In fact, some of the most interesting "tablecloths" that I've seen have been quilts, blankets, or lightweight rugs.

My particular autumn "tablecloth" is a length of woolen yardage from my piles of fabric for sewing projects. I took a 60 inch X 3  1/2 yard piece of wool plaid, turned under about 2 feet of excess fabric, and laid the whole piece, with the back side facing up (still the same plaid, but minimizes wear on the "good" side) on the kitchen table. A 60-inch wide piece of fabric will have from 8 to 14 inches of overhang on both long sides of a rectangular table. (For reference, my kitchen table is 34 inches wide while my dining room table is 43 inches wide.) I did not hem the ends or sides, but I did neatly trim loose threads from the ends. 

When I am done using this as a tablecloth this autumn, I will gently hand-wash the fabric and return it to the fabric pile.

To protect the fabric, I've place my summer straw mats at the individual places of the table. I think the contrast in texture is pleasing. The 36-year old burgundy cloth napkins belong to a set of fabric placemats, but they do work well with the tones in this wool plaid.

The Candleholders
If you look closely at the support for my jar candles, you'll see that these are upturned water goblets. Holding the goblets right side up, I filled the bowl of each with foraged acorns and pinecones, plus some faux autumn leaves. I carefully turned them upside down and set them on the table. Finally, I gently lifted the lower edge of each goblet and slid in a couple more acorns for a full look. 

With a decorative ribbon tied around each stem and a small canning jar with votive candle placed inside resting on what would be the base of the goblet, I now have free candle holders. After their use this autumn, the goblets will revert to drinking vessels, the canning jars will be cleaned out and put back into canning use, and the acorns, pinecones, faux leaves, and ribbons will go back into my crafting cupboard.

The Vine
The totally-free vine and pumpkins are from my crafting box and garden. About 1 year ago, I wrote about the box of crafting supplies that I got from a free pile in my neighborhood. Yep, the faux vine was in that box. In addition, the pumpkins were grown with a seedling given to me by another neighbor. So this really is a free bit of table decor. 

There you have it. My no-cost, "new" table decor for Autumn 2019.


Back to my yogurt-making. "Chat" more soon.

Easy Rustic Fruit Tart: Low Effort, Fabulous Impression

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We had out-of-town guests over the weekend, and on Sunday, I put together a nice brunch. To finish the brunch, I thought a fruit tart would be lovely. For baking pies and tarts from scratch, this rustic pie tops my list for ease.

Time: 20 minutes to prepare the tart (depending on fruit filling prep); 30 to 35 minutes to bake

ingredients:
1 patty of pie dough (enough for 1 crust)
2 cups of fruit pie filling (fresh or frozen berries, fresh or frozen peaches, fresh, frozen, or canned apples, with appropriate amount of sugar and flour)

• Preheat oven to 400 F.
• Lightly butter an extra-large baking sheet.
• Prepare the fruit filling for the pie with fruit, sugar, and a thickener, such as flour. Precook the filling in a microwave in short bursts to thicken and stirring often or in a saucepan over the stove, stirring often.

• While the filling is cooling, roll out the pie pastry to about 14 or 15 inches in diameter.
• Carefully transfer the pastry to the baking sheet.

• Spoon the prepared and thickened filling onto the center of the circle of dough.

• Using a table knife or off-set spatula, gently fold the pastry over the filling to make a round-ish and flat tart. 
• Check for cracks near the edge that could leak filling. Repair any cracks with a scrap of dough and a drop of water.

• Sprinkle with granulated sugar (optional)
• Bake at 400 F for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 F and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden. Remove from oven.
• Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 30 to 40 minutes.
• Using a couple of regular or off-set spatulas, gently lift the tart onto a serving plate.
• Just before serving, sprinkle confectioner's sugar through a sieve or sifter. Cut into wedges.

I used pie pastry from this recipe. The dough is easy to mix up and makes 5 single crusts. Once divided into 5 portions, the pastry can be individually wrapped and kept in the freezer for several months. 

I use this pastry for both savory and sweet pies. The fact that I almost always have pie dough ready in the freezer means that I can decide relatively last-minute to make something like this kind of tart or a meat pot pie to serve my family or guests.

For this particular tart, I used frozen blackberries, sugar, and flour to make a filling, which I pre-cooked in the microwave and allowed to cool a few minutes before spooning onto the dough circle.

With a crust loosely-formed on the baking sheet, the filling does have a tendency to ooze out. For that reason, I find it very helpful to use a thickened pie filling and an extra-large baking sheet (more room for the oozing filling). 

Imperfections are part of the charm of a rustic tart. Just the same, I find a light sprinkling of confectioner's sugar adds a bit of polish to its appearance.

In years that I have a lot of baking apples from our trees, I love making rustic apple pies. We think these make awesome breakfast pies, like Pop-Tarts but significantly better.


Do you use an off-set spatula? The blade on an off-set spatula is angled down from the handle just before its full length. They're handy for smoothing the icing on the tops and sides of a cake. In addition, I use mine for getting under a large, flat baked good to transfer it to a serving dish. I also use it as the serving tool for narrow items like the slices of this fruit tart. If you don't know what these are by name, below is what an off-set spatula looks like. You may have seen these before. (paid link)

You'll find this post, and many others like it, just a click away on this page -- a compilation of my recipes, shopping lists, and menu plans that illustrates how I feed my family of 4 adults on $125 to $135 per month.

10 Practical Planning Tips for Developing Financial Resiliency

No one can predict when the next recession may hit our economy. What the experts will tell us is that we have been experiencing a long period of good economic conditions, and recessions do invariably come around as part of the cycle. In addition to recessions, many of us have experienced temporary and permanent job losses, often times without much warning. 

My household's experience with job reduction this past year taught me that while we had been doing many things right, there were also several areas that we needed to shore ourselves up. Here are my ten, very practical tips for developing financial resiliency, the ability to weather the storms in difficult economic times.

1. Keep a written budget for all expenses. I list this as a first step because knowing where your money is going is critical for reducing spending. With a written budget you can easily identify non-necessary spending or overspending for goods and services. You can also easily see when the cost of a subscription service has crept up, following up with a decision to change service providers if need be.

2. Pay down debt and build some cash or cash-equivalent savings. While cash and equivalents (like bank CDs, and U.S. government Treasury bills) typically have a low rate of return, they are also low risk and readily convertible to cash. When economic times are strong, credit flows freely and as consumers, it is easy to take on debt, thinking that the good times will continue and we will be able to pay back this credit. 

How does a person pay down debt and/or build savings when each month feels like there is barely enough to get by? Earmark any windfalls, financial gifts, or new income for debt payment and savings. See item number 6 to generate ideas for bringing in new income. In addition, you can make a few, discreet reductions in your current spending for discretionary items or experiences each month and bank the amount that you save. I know that I often find myself thinking that there is no where else to cut spending. Then I later find there are several experiences or goods that I can eliminate without any enduring pain. 

3. Build a stockpile of non-perishable foods and basic necessities. The quantity is an individual decision. However, if you feel that an income loss could last for 3 to 6 months, then an amount of basic foods which would carry your household through at least 3 months would be very helpful. 

To get started on building a stockpile, look through your current pantry and identify low-cost foods that you use regularly. Make a list of what you would use in 1 month. Now multiply those amounts for each item by the number of months that you want your stockpile to last. Watch for sales and coupons that allow you to buy these extra foods at their lowest prices and buy your multi-month supply, one item at a time. 

If your situation is like mine, you may need to forgo some of your luxury snack foods in order to afford to buy some items to stockpile. You may have noticed in my grocery plans for the past 8 months I have kept the bulk of the foods that I have bought to basic necessities, yet I have bought some extraordinary amounts of non-perishables such as beans, rice, and flour. This is all part of my overall plan to build our financial resilience in future times of income loss.

4. Take care of your physical and mental health now, while you have adequate insurance coverage. Get exercise, eat right, maintain medical care, get adequate rest, and meditate and/or continue a prayer life. Taking care of yourself will bolster your mental and physical resilience in a stressful period, so that you can tackle the arduous task of job-hunting or increasing your income in a bad economy. Self-care now will also give you the strength and endurance to perform all of those little money-saving tasks that those of us who are interested in frugal-living know very well.

5. Learn new crafts, trades, and repair techniques to not only take care of your own household needs but also to use for barter or another income source.

6. Develop several unrelated streams of income. Some ideas that might work for many of us: 

• providing a domestic service for neighbors and friends (such as house-cleaning, yard maintenance, pet or house sitting, babysitting); 
• making (crafts, sewing, woodworking), growing (produce, seedlings), or raising (livestock) something tangible to sell online, in-person, or by consignment; 
• writing about any topic of specialty to sell to publications or to place on your own monetized site; 
• rental income, whether just a room in your home, or storage space in your basement, barn, garage, attic, driveway, or a summer house, or property in your own town that could house tenants (people need to store all kinds of things, from very short-term, such as needing a place to park their car for a special event in your area to long-term storage or tenancy); 
• marketing any special, professional skills as a service; sell your time to a company, such as by taking surveys or becoming a secret shopper; 
• seeking out temporary jobs, such as working at a fair or festival, or working for the federal government assisting with the 2020 census.

7. Devise a plan, in advance, for how you would remedy an income loss. This is brainstorming time. Think through how you would reduce spending, network and job hunt, and bring in needed income. Look over that written-out budget and determine what you could cut, if need be. 

Spend time researching alternatives to some of your current expenses. Is there a cheaper internet provider that would meet your needs? Could you ditch a smartphone and rely on an old-style, pay-as-you-go cell phone? What can you eliminate from discretionary spending? Could you use one of those new skills to do your own repairs or make gifts? Do you have something you could sell or rent out? What kind of community or organization exists in your career niche where you could network to find work? Where can you go online and in person to find job-listings or help with a resume? Is your resume current?

Keep a copy of an updated resume on your computer and include any new skills that you've acquired (tip number 5). If you don't have this already, set up a professional email, to which prospective employers can link through a digitized version of your resume. Many of us have personal emails, which are fine for personal contacts. A professional email  (which doesn't use a cutesy name/nickname and can be set up through gmail) will support a favorable impression. The best professional emails are straightforward, such as firstname(your given name, not shortened or nickname).lastname@gmail.com. If this format is taken for your name, reverse the first and last names, or use a first initial only. 

You want to hit the ground running in case of income loss. Time is everything. If you have figured out the answers to most of these questions while your income is still intact, you will waste less time finding solutions that work, which means you will need to tap into your savings for a shorter period of time. 

8. Volunteer in your community now. This may not be immediately evident, but volunteer work is a place to make connections as well as do something pro-active to help others in your community. What seems to be an unwritten rule of social interaction is the more you do for someone else, the more that comes back to you. In addition to simply doing good or making connections, volunteer work sometimes results in tangible rewards, such as a free meal while serving meals to others or leftover food to take home.

9. Organize your household. Inventory your supplies, keeping like items together. Repair broken items now, while your "free" time does not need to be put to tasks like procuring food or finding paid work. Knowing what you have in your home will prevent you from buying duplicate items. 

How many times have we all bought something for a repair only to later find that we already owned that needed item? I know I've done that many times. 

As you organize your supplies, take note of store and restaurant gift cards that have balances. Those gift cards could be used to purchase necessities, sell on a gift card resale site, or buy gifts for family and friends. 

10. Develop a thick skin when it comes to the naysayers in your life, those individuals who ridicule your efforts to conserve resources or experiment with new methods to earn money. Everyone's circumstances are different and only you know what you really need to do to ensure your stable financial future. It's highly unlikely that the criticizers or belittlers will be paying your bills. Your money. Your future. Your choice in how to manage both.

Bonus tip: Cultivate gratitude in everything. In the process, you may find that you require far less than you'd ever previously imagined.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for Early October

Cheap & Cheerful posts show, week by week, how a budget of $135/month for groceries works out for our family of 4

Brrr, it's been a cold week here. Our furnace needed a repair, which didn't get done until yesterday morning. We are so grateful to have heat once again. Since our wall oven is very near to the kitchen table, I tried to time any baking for the day with the dinner hour. I would leave the oven door open while it cooled to add a bit of heat to the eating area. 

Here are our dinners for the week.

Friday
tabbouli -- cracked wheat, quinoa, lentils, onion, parsley, garlic, cumin, mint, oregano, julienne carrot, chopped tomatoes, diced cucumber, lemon juice, vinegar, oil, salt, served over lettuce (followed seasonings from this list to achieve the right flavor)
freshly baked French bread with olive oil for dipping
blackberry pie using some of those frozen blackberries from foraging this summer

Saturday
baked beans
garden potatoes
steamed carrots
leftover blackberry pie

Sunday
chicken, rice, and cheese casserole topped with homemade salsa
garden salad

Monday (switched the table settings/cloth for fall today)
garden vegetable, chicken, and lentil soup, using beets, carrots, potatoes, chard, sorrel, onion, garlic, tomatoes, sage, nutmeg (beets, potatoes, chard, sorrel, garlic, tomatoes, and sage from our garden)
rosemary and olive oil biscuit loaf
pear and rhubarb sauce

Tuesday
pasta in peanut sauce
cabbage side dish

Wednesday (my daughter brought home 2 large pizzas today, so we'll have pizza 2 nights in a row)
pizza
cole slaw (made with some of the 18 cents/lb cabbage from last month)

Thursday
more leftover pizza
garden salad with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and purchased avocado


Tonight? Mediterranean chicken leg quarters, rice pilaf, and a garden salad.

Our meals are very basic ones, using humble and ordinary ingredients. You'll notice that I really don't try a lot of new recipes, but instead recycle the old ones, altering ingredients according to what we happen to have on hand. I rarely ever make a special trip to the store to pick up a specific ingredient for a particular recipe. Instead, I find an adequate substitute, sometimes using my own reasoning and other times turning to the internet or a cookbook. Family meals don't need to be perfect to be enjoyable.

Procuring Food
I did a major portion of our grocery shopping for the month of October earlier this week. In addition to the items on my October shopping list, I also bought 25 cents worth of celery salt, 2 family packs of chicken leg quarters (slightly better quality than Walmart, and slightly less expensive), and 6 avocados, marked down to 3/$1. So far for the month, I've spent $118.50.

I continue to harvest from our garden on a daily basis. Our lettuce, kale, radish greens, and Swiss chard are doing well. We're focusing on using the lettuce and Swiss chard right now and allowing the kale and radish greens to put on new growth, if possible. We have ever-bearing raspberries in addition to July-bearing. Ever-bearing has an early crop in summer and then a later crop in early fall. I pick a handful every 3 days or so. We also have rhubarb still growing. Keeping a vegetable garden is one of the tactics we use to keep our grocery bill low. There is some labor involved. However, we look upon vegetable gardening as a hobby that provides substantial benefits.


How was your week? If you keep a garden, are you still harvesting from it, or has the season ended for you? And that burning question -- what was on your menu this past week? I get so many great ideas and inspiration from all of your meals.

A Little Bit of Free Outdoor Decorating for October

One of our neighbors keeps a very large vegetable garden every summer. Their property receives significantly more sunshine than ours, so corn actually grows well for them. Upon cleaning up their garden for the season, they put the bare cornstalks on the curb with a giant "free" sign. Yippee! I have wanted to buy cornstalks for several years, but I could never warrant the cost. Free pretty much trumps all price points when decorating on a tight budget.

I simply love the look of cornstalks on the porch. Once home, I grabbed a length of burlap ribbon, a pick that I bought at Dollar Tree 2 years ago, then I tied the cornstalks into a tidy bundle. Rustic country pairs well with autumn, don't you think?

Many of our neighbors do some lighting for Halloween and autumn. In past years, I have had a serious case of outdoor-lighting envy. Once again, I just can't justify the cost of more decorating stuff for just a few weeks of the year. 

So, I dug through piles of stuff from the attic and pulled out 3 ancient strands of multi-colored, outdoor Christmas lights. After removing all of the red and blue lights (plus any other burnt out ones) from 1 strand, I filled the empty spots with orange, white, and green lights.

There's a tall and narrow shrub just outside the house door nearest the driveway. This worked out great -- one orange, white, and green strand of lights was just enough to wrap around a single shrub. I'm looking forward to seeing it after dark tonight!

The cornstalks and colored lights may sound like such small things; however, the two items make a significant impact on my autumn decorating, and they didn't cost me a single cent. That's a price point that I can live with.

Everything Pumpkin-Spice Plus a Favorite Pumpkin-Sage Pasta Recipe

October is pumpkin month to me. With that in mind, I wanted to put together some of my favorite ways to cook and use pumpkin.

You've got your fresh pumpkins. Now how to cook them for puree. Here are 4 methods to cooking pumpkin for use in baking and other recipes.

• Four Methods for Cooking Fresh Pumpkins for Puree

This granola recipe can be made with or without the nuts. But, of course, I think the texture of the pecans is extra special, so I try to scrounge enough up for doing this recipe right.

• Pumpkin-Praline Granola

Save your dollars and make a pumpkin-spice latte at home, for pennies! Here's a syrup recipe that uses actual pumpkin, not imitation flavorings.

• Homemade Pumpkin-Spice Syrup for Making Pumpkin-Spice Lattes at Home

These little gems are great for the tailgate crowd or a Saturday gathering at home.

• Scratch Pumpkin-Spice Donuts

So, not up to the task of deep-frying, but still want the pumpkin-spice flavor in a breakfast bread? How about cinnamon buns that have pumpkin and spices in the dough?

• Homemade Pumpkin-Spice Cinnamon Buns

Coffeehouse pumpkin-spice scones are addictive. Here's a recipe to make your own at home. Bonus -- the dough is freezable, so you can bake however many you want at a time.

• Pumpkin-Spice Scone Dough to Bake Now or Freeze to Bake Later

This is the easiest scratch cake recipe ever. You don't even need a mixing bowl. Mix the batter right in the pan that in which you will bake it.

• Egg-Free, Dairy-Free Snack Cake Recipe with Pumpkin-Spice Variation

And finally, a savory recipe for using pumpkin puree. I make this several times in autumn and winter. Delicious! I want to add that this pasta recipe is so good, that I serve it to guests. Yet it is easy enough to put together while guests stand around in the kitchen talking with me. I just gather my measured and prepped ingredients together in advance to avoid mistakes. When I make this, I look like a pro and so will you. Go generous on the Parmesan, if you can.

Yields 6 to 8 servings.

You'll find this post, and many others like it, a click away,  through this link (click) -- a compilation of my recipes, shopping lists, and menu plans that illustrates how I feed my family of 4 adults on $125 to $135 per month.

Green Tomatoes: Making Sweet Pickle Relish with Tomatoes That Will Not Ripen

Green Tomato Sweet Pickle Relish

When the calendar turns over to October, I feel prompted to save as much of the high summer garden as possible. Many vegetables will stay good through the month and even into November. However, veggies like tomatoes and cucumbers rarely last in the garden beyond the first week of October in my area.

I have been picking a pail or two at a time of tomatoes for the last half of September. Last night was very cold, meaning that it was now time to harvest all of the remaining tomatoes, every last one. Today, I was able to harvest about half of an ice cream pail full, about enough to make this year's sweet pickle relish.

Some of the garden tomatoes that I've been harvesting are in the ripening phase.

Others are still fully green but have potential to ripen.

But the last third of the tomatoes don't look like they will ripen. Instead, they will likely turn brown from blight and become unusable. 

Many of these tomatoes are quite small, about the size of a marble or smaller. Itty bitty green tomatoes are still useful if cooked right away. They can be made into mock mincemeat, pureed and added to cake recipes, or as I do, made into either a sweet pickle relish or a dill and garlic pickle relish. 

Today, I chose to make the sweet pickle relish. 

pieces of green tomatoes and onions just prior to cooking

Green Tomato Pickle Relish
time to make: about 1 and 1/2 hours
yield: about 3 half-pints

2 cups finely chopped green tomatoes
3/4 of a large onion, finely chopped
1/3 of a large red or green sweet pepper, seeded and finely chopped
3/4 cup white vinegar
3/4 cup of granulated sugar
scant 1  1/2 teaspoons of salt
1/2 of a stick of cinnamon, broken into pieces
10 whole cloves
1 tablespoon of pickling spice

• Wash and trim stem ends off of green tomatoes, trim away any blemishes.
• In a food processor, chop the tomatoes until pieces are about the size of commercial relish bits. Measure the chopped tomatoes and adjust recipe to suit the amount of tomatoes. Put chopped tomatoes into a large colander over a bowl.
• In a food processor, chop the onion until pieces are similar in size to the tomato bits. Add the chopped onion to the colander with the tomatoes. Chop the pepper in the same manner and add to the colander. Allow the vegetables to drain for 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, prepare jars and lids.
• Tie up the pieces of cinnamon, cloves, and pickling spice in a square of muslin or cheesecloth.
• In a stainless pot, combine the vinegar, sugar, and salt. Add the bag of spices and heat over Med-Low, stirring occasionally.
• When vegetables have drained for 20 minutes, add them to the pot of spices and liquid. Bring to a boil, stirring continuously. Reduce heat to simmer and cook, stirring often, until vegetable pieces are tender, about 15 minutes.
• Once tender, remove the bag of spices and fill sterilized jars, seal, and process for 15 minutes if at 0-6000 ft above sea level or 20 minutes if above 6000 ft. (The National Center for Home Food Preservation indicates that a boiling-water canner is sufficient for pickle relishes and provides timing according to elevation in a table on this page. In addition to the information concerning pickle relish timing, the NCHFP also has a good page about the process for using a boiling-water canner, in case you are unsure.)

The peppers in the recipe are nice to have. However, most years I only have the green tomatoes and onions, so I make the relish without peppers. As it is, this relish is quite delicious.

You know -- waste not, want not. The next time I'm mixing up some tuna salad, or fixing a hot dog or hamburger, or making chicken salad, I'll be grateful that I used those itty bitty green tomatoes.


You'll find this post, and many others like it, on this page, a compilation of my recipes, shopping lists, and menu plans that illustrates how I feed my family of 4 adults on $125 to $135 per month.

October Hopes and Dreams

Tiny shells, bits of translucent sea glass, and a weathered shard of pottery rest on the corner of the mirrored box on my dresser, serving as a reminder of the care-free, beach-combing days of this past summer.

The warm months were dotted with fun moments near the water. We culled the stretches of sand for the treasured bits that the tide and waves cast onto the shore. An evening or two was spent gaily tossing a Frisbee with my family at the waterside park. We picnicked at the water’s edge on several occasions. And we voyaged on the Washington state ferry across the Puget Sound to explore nearby islands.

As I peer under the lid of my mother’s cedar chest, I spy the textiles of autumn: woolen tweeds and plaids, cable-knit sweaters, fleecy throws, and flannel bedsheets. This is a day to throw my arms wide open and greet October.

Visits to the beach will be replaced by jolly excursions to local farms, quiet walks in our woods to collect pinecones and observe the fauna and flora, cozy Sunday afternoon lunches by the warming fireplace, and seasonal crafts and holiday gifts produced at my kitchen table.

Guests and family will be welcomed by the small, decorative touches of October in my home and garden, for which I’ll use stored, scavenged, and low-cost décor items. Table settings will change over from summer’s light, garden-inspired themes to the rich, earthy tones of autumn.

The vegetable garden will continue to produce but in a much-reduced capacity, bearing leafy greens, potatoes, winter squashes and pumpkins. Meanwhile, my indoor garden of sprouted legumes and micro-greens will come back to life with the help of southern-exposed windows and grow lights.

Edible manifestations of October will be seen in our Jack o’ Lantern cookies, a cake decorated with a creepy spider in its web, copious cups of hot apple and spice tisanes, batches of pumpkin-spice granola, plates full of apple pancakes, sizzling chili and cheese-smothered hot dogs, soups and stews of the hearty variety, and recipes that remind me of part of my ancestral heritage.

I may be sorry to see summer go away for several seasons, but there is a lot for which to look forward in this first full month of autumn. What seasonal specialties call your name in October?