3 Ways to Grow Your Winter Veggies Indoors. . .

. . .or, How to Have Fresh Greens for Salads in Winter (and Fall)

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1. in a jar on the kitchen counter

• growing sprouts -- I started the indoor garden last week, using 1/2 cup of lentils to grow about 8 pints of lentil sprouts. Lentil sprouts are a fresh additions to salads, sandwiches, stir fries, casseroles, and soups. You can even steam lentil sprouts, lightly, and use as a pasta substitute to cover with marinara. About 5 cents worth of dry lentils will grow into a pint of sprouts. The same volume of mung bean or alfalfa sprouts sells for $1.99 to $2.99 in my local stores. Growing sprouts has got to be one of the most cost-effective foods you can "make" yourself. 
• To grow sprouts, rinse about 2 tablespoons of lentils, then drain. Put the seeds in a pint-sized canning jar and fill the jar with water. Allow to sit overnight at room temperature. In the morning, drain the lentils and cover the opening with a square of clean muslin or cheesecloth. Lay the jar on its side or propped slightly with the opening end down. During the growing process, keep the seeds at room temperature. There's no need for a bright light source; the kitchen counter will do just fine. Gently rinse and drain twice a day until sprouts are developed to your liking. Sprouts are ready to harvest in 5 to 7 days. To store sprouts: once fully-grown, rinse and drain once more, then place on a paper towel inside a bag, canning jar, or covered bowl and keep in the refrigerator. Sprouts will remain fresh for about one week.

microgreens
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2. under lights

• growing salad greens, like lettuce, in a 6-inch deep tray or pot and kept under ultraviolet lights for 12 to 16 hours per day
• Or, for less time till harvest -- growing microgreens, which are baby plants used for food. Micro-greens are grown in a shallow tray of soil, kept in a source of bright light for 12 to 16 hours/day, and are ready for harvest by cutting with scissors in 7 to 21 days, depending on variety. 

my Tuscan kale seedbed -- seeds on the dish to the right, about 200 or so extra small seeds for a 4 X 5-inch surface
space. If using larger seeds (like pea seeds), fewer seeds would be needed to cover the same surface area.

• The planting container should have drainage holes. I've used produce clamshells, filling with seed-starting soil and sprinkling the soil surface gently with water. Seeds are scattered generously. Remember the expected harvest is a dense mat of baby greens, not mature plants. Press the seeds lightly into the soil and scatter a very, very thin layer of soil on top. Water by misting with a clean spray bottle filed with water. Cover the soil bed with a plastic lid or loose-fitting plastic bag. 
• Once the seeds have sprouted, remove the lid or covering and keep under ultraviolet lights for 12 to 16 hours per day. Mist twice daily to keep the soil damp and baby plants watered. To harvest, clip plants with scissors as close to the soil as possible. As with all produce, rinse gently before consuming. 
• The cost to grow microgreens is slightly more than growing sprouts, accounting for the seed-starting medium and grow lights. However, growing microgreens can still be a considerable savings over buying greens in winter at the grocery store, for example, if you either already have the grow lights or, as some folks have reported success, by growing microgreens on a sunny window sill. The soil, itself, can be reused -- replanted with new seeds. Pull up the roots, smooth the soil, and begin again.
• In the containers that I started this week, I used some of the Tuscan kale seeds and chive seeds that I saved from my garden plants this past summer. I bought a bag of seed-starting soil and will use the indoor grow lights that I already own. I've placed my light fixture and growing area next to a window on the south side of our house, so I can reduce the amount of time that the light needs to run to about 6 or 7 hours per day. I plan on growing 10 small flats at a time, staggering the planting times (starting 3 to 4 mini-flats per week.) My estimated cost per container of microgreens will be about 10 to 12 cents each, figuring in the cost of the soil and the electricity.

3. on the windowsill

• planting seeds or seedlings in a large pot and keeping it on the windowsill
• bringing potted plants from the summer garden into the house

When I planted my rosemary for the summer, the plants (2) were tiny. So, I thought they'd do well in small urns. As rosemary is a tender perennial in my area (they don't survive really cold winters in the garden), I try to eek out additional years by keeping them in pots and bringing them indoors for the winter. Since they'll need larger and larger pots each summer, this technique is only feasible for a few winters. I just take my chances at that point.

Above are one rosemary plant and 3 lettuce plants. The lettuces were seeded in mid-summer in pots so that I could bring them inside sometime in mid-fall for a few last salads. I have 2 pots of lettuces like the one above. My potted garden sits in the light allowed by the patio door to the south side of the house. I brought these indoors just this morning. In another 3 weeks, when our garden greens are no longer harvestable, we'll use a pick-and-come-again approach with our indoor lettuce. Until then, the lettuces should continue to put on some growth.

Growing our veggies indoors this fall and winter will not only save money while encouraging us to eat more fresh veggies, but it will also extend the time that we can control how our foods are grown. Double win.

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.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for Mid-October

blackberry syrup made with love

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

Friday

Friday
leftover baked beans (even better then second time around)
hotdogs
sauteed onions, garlic, and garden Swiss chard
sauteed tomatoes
hashbrowns

Saturday

Saturday
scrambled eggs with cheese, garlic, and onion
pan-fried garden potato slices
fresh tomato wedges
salad of Swiss chard and lettuce in a homemade vinaigrette

Sunday

Sunday leftover night
leftover refried beans (last week) topped with cheese and leftover marinara (also last week)
leftover brown rice (again, last week)
simple steamed carrot slices, swirled in the saucepan with butter

Monday

Monday
Tex-Mex rice and lentils, with canned tomatoes, onions, chard, garlic and seasonings, topped with cheese, avocado, homemade plain yogurt, homemade salsa
blackberry crisp

Tuesday

Tuesday
garbanzo bean and veggie soup
zucchini bread
cole slaw

Wednesday

Wednesday
pasta and cheese with pepperoni and topped with homemade marinara sauce (daughter bought the pepperoni)
steamed carrots
leftover blackberry crisp

Thursday

Thursday
waffle omelets filled with ham, onions, Swiss chard, and cheese
simply baked acorn squash, dotted with butter and sprinkled with cinnamon
pancakes with homemade blackberry syrup


The menus, themselves, only partially explain how my family of 4 adults gets by on just $135 per month for food groceries. It's true, I do plan meals that are scratch-cooked and use very simple foods, such as dried beans, brown rice, eggs, and basic produce. In addition, procuring those foods inexpensively, or even for free, constitutes the other half or more of the equation. My October grocery planning post provides an idea of what we spent on specific food items this past month. 

Produce is often cited as a significant expense in grocery shopping. This month, we continued to use the least expensive commercially-farmed fruits and vegetables. Our purchased produce used in dinners this week included: onions, carrots, canned tomatoes and tomato paste, avocado, and cabbage. 

In addition to grocery purchases, we are also still using garden and foraged produce. This past week, we've been able to harvest the following produce items from the garden to use in our meals: garlic, Swiss chard, tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, and acorn squash. We were also used frozen or canned blackberries and zucchini from summer foraging and gardening. 

The final element of our frugal dining involves minimizing food waste. The pancakes on Thursday were made with salvaged milk skimmings leftover from making yogurt. When you heat milk, skin forms on the surface. To produce a smooth and creamy yogurt, you then strain off this skin. I save that stuff to puree and use in baking. We used leftovers on several nights, sometimes using those foods in new ways and other times, using them just as is.

By the way, I didn't do any grocery shopping this week, so my grocery spending is still at $133.13 for the month of October.

So that's how we eat well on so little. On to something you may find more interesting in a quasi-voyeur sort of way -- my frugal fridge. I thought there were a few interesting things about the current state of my refrigerator to which you may relate.

• top left, leftovers: Silk container has leftover homemade marinara sauce; a stack of leftover ham topped with leftover ham stock; quart of homemade yogurt in the back; homemade mustard on top of homemade ketchup.
• left center shelf, daughter 1's shelf, foods either she's bought with her own money (canned frosting, a juice pouch) or foods from meals she hasn't finished (yes, we save foods we haven't finished then eat them later.)
• lower left shelf, daughter 2's shelf, her purchased or unfinished foods from meals. We waste as little as possible -- notice the third of a glass of milk in the front.
• top right, beverages: Kroger orange juice (on sale 1st week of Oct), Great Value (Walmart brand) milk (recently lowered their price on gallons of milk, now cheapest milk in my town), homemade kool-aid, an old bottle of cola in the back. The 2 right containers have leftover refried beans and leftover soup (made of other leftovers). Those 2 foods are in that spot to remind peeps to use these foods ASAP for lunches or snacks. Just behind those 2 containers is my 1/2-gallon of almond milk (my 1-month supply of non-dairy milk just for me -- lactose intolerant.)
• right center shelf -- the dairy shelf: to the left, a container of homemade soft butter (butter blended with oil to stretch the butter); behind that half a block of tofu in water; a dish of boiled eggs; behind that a container of leftover skimmings from making yogurt; to the right, eggs that I repackaged from a big case into an old, pre-used carton. Eggs are often cheaper in 5 dozen or more packs, but those packages take up too much space in the kitchen fridge. I store the rest of those eggs in the garage fridge.
• lower right shelf, 2 5-lb bags of shredded cheese.
• the produce drawers -- to the left, a bag of yeast (yeast keeps well in the fridge) and various take-out packets of condiments. To the right, lots of onions purchased in a 50-lb bag, the last of the 4 heads of cabbage bought at 18 cents/lb, the last of the carrots bought in a 10-lb bag, some beets from the garden that I need to cook.

That's my very frugal fridge. 

I buy very few commercial or  convenience foods. Whenever my daughters feel they want that sort of food, they buy it for themselves. They're adults and are free to use their money that way. They are also very busy people, working, volunteering, and pursuing less traditional career paths. So, I can understand not wanting to take the time to mix up a batch of frosting. Plus, when you grow up not eating commercially-prepared foods, there's this aura of mystique that surrounds those foods in a person's mind. It's "the other." We've all wanted to see what was on the other side of the fence in some area of life, haven't we? Anyway, my daughters are also very generous in sharing "their" foods when they cook family dinners, each daughter cooking one night per week.

Enough rambling from me. I hope you had a wonderful week and have lots of fun or relaxation planned for the weekend. 

Easy-To-Make, No Talent Required Frosting Spider in Its Web to Top Cakes, Cookies, or Brownies

I like to make little surprises for my family to find when they arrive home each evening. I know -- that sounds so old-fashioned. But it's part of how I show my love for my family members. Anyway, this morning I decorated the kitchen door with the window clings that I bought at Dollar Tree 2 or 3 years ago and some artificial vines that came in a free box from a year ago, summer. It's just something simple and didn't cost a cent. So, why not, right?

I also like to bake a treat or two in October as a surprise for those same family members. Here is a batch of frosted brownies (using this scratch recipe that can be microwaved or oven-baked) that I topped with a not-so-spooky spider in its web. 

To make a spider in its web with frosting for a cake, pan of brownies, cookies, or cupcakes, you'll need:

the baked good(s)

base layer frosting, buttercream (I used orange)

dark cocoa frosting, buttercream

1 snack-sized ziploc bag

scissors

toothpick

This is how I made the spider in its web. 

After the batch of brownies cooled, I iced it with a scratch buttercream frosting which had been dyed bright orange.

I then made small amount of cocoa frosting, making it as dark as I could (lots of cocoa powder.)

I filled a snack-sized baggie with the cocoa frosting, sealed it shut, and snipped off the tip of a corner with a pair of scissors. This was my make-shift frosting bag.

I used this frosting bag to pipe concentric circles. As you can see, my hands are not the steadiest with this; yet that won't matter one bit for the end product.

Using a toothpick, I "drew" lines from the center to the outside edges of the pan of brownies, dividing the pan in halves, then fourths, eighths and so on.

By the time I was finished, I had something that resembled a web. I placed a "spider" at the center of the web by piping a circle of icing, which I filled with additional icing, and then added the 8 "legs."

Like I said, this is very easy and does not require any cake decorating skills whatsoever. In fact, the fact that I had shaky hands while making this didn't seem to matter.

By the way, you can use this same technique, maybe with a less-bright base color of frosting and leave off the spider, to make an absolutely beautiful cake for a celebration. I've used tan-colored frosting base-layers with dark cocoa piped icing, dragging the dark icing through with a toothpick as I've done here to make incredibly special-looking birthday cakes. No talent. No skill. But very impressive, nonetheless.


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.

Low-Effort Cooking While Using Low-Cost Whole Foods

baked apples take one-quarter of the hands-on time required for making an apple pie

Time is such a valuable commodity in our culture, so much so that none of us seem to have much of it to spare. As much as possible, I try to conserve my time in some areas in order to have more of it for other areas.

This is a principle that I've explained to my family members, encouraging them to eat more of the cheaply-sourced foods that take less of my actual hands-on time to prepare. By primarily making these low-effort frugal foods, I can have more time to make some of their favorite high-effort frugal dishes. 

I touched on this idea very briefly yesterday. So my first low-effort food is rice.

• rice is a low-effort, inexpensive scratch-cooking food (3 mins. hands-on), whereas scratch-made bread is a high-effort food (35 mins. hands-on). When our homemade bread supply is running low, I make more rice to go with dinners in order to stretch the remaining bread, therefore delaying the time that I need to do more baking.
• whole potatoes "baked" in the microwave are low-effort foods (2 mins), whereas potato salad (35 mins) is a high effort food. We get the same potato-satiety from the baked potatoes as the potato salad, but my work is significantly diminished.
• cooked oatmeal (2 mins) from oats is a low-effort food, whereas homemade granola (10 mins) is a high-effort food, and homemade granola bars (60 mins) are an even higher effort food (which may explain why I rarely make granola bars.) Since I don't buy commercial dry cereals, our breakfasts are almost always scratch-made in some form or another, such as toast made with homemade bread, eggs, homemade yogurt, etc. When I check the pantry and see that we are out of breakfast-y foods for the next morning, I set up the crockpot just as we're finishing our dinner with either rolled oats or steel cut oats for overnight oatmeal. If I forget to do this, then a pot of hot rolled oatmeal is pretty quick to make in the morning and takes very little hands-on effort.
• popcorn (7 mins) made from kernels, oil, and salt in a pan on the stove is a low-effort snack food, whereas crackers (50 mins) made from scratch are high-effort snack foods, and something that I only do once or twice per year.
• this snack cake (12 mins), which is mixed in the pan in which it bakes, is a low-effort dessert, whereas a layer cake (60 mins) is a high effort food. I think we all knew that. However, I just wanted to point out that this snack cake recipe can be used as a celebration cake in a pinch. After some cooling, spread the top of the snack cake with a scratch buttercream icing and throw lots of colored sprinkles on top. Voila -- celebration cake, with only a small amount of hands-on effort.
• baked apples (15 mins) are a low-effort dessert, whereas scratch apple pie (60 mins) is a high-effort dessert (even with this make-ahead pie crust dough)
• a pot of rice and a pot of beans (15 mins) are a low-effort Tex-Mex vegetarian combination, whereas making scratch flour tortillas and beans (60 mins) is a high-effort Tex-Mex combination.

I think there's this myth that frugal cooking is always extremely time-consuming and complicated. That line of thought must come from the notion that one must replicate commercial products to be fully satisfied. 

As much as I can, I try to find the less labor-intensive options that deliver similar satisfaction for my family, using primarily cheaply-sourced basic foods. Of course, we all grumble from time to time that it would be nice to have more of the products that we see in stores and advertisements. They sure do look appealing in photos. In the end, I realize that by saving money on our groceries, we can afford other life luxuries, such as vacations, a nice home, and a comfortable retirement someday.

I do what I can to provide tasty meals for my family while keeping to a small budget. In that light, it just makes sense to prepare several low-effort foods per week, then add in one or two high-effort dishes for variety and excitement.

As a perk, making more of the low-effort foods means that I have more time for some of my frivolous hobbies, like showering, sleeping, and vacuuming. I know. I'm really too self-indulgent.

Does this idea resonate with you? Do you opt for simpler foods if it means you save both time and money? What are some other simply-prepared foods that save your time compared to their labor-intensive counterparts?

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.

Tastier Rice and Lentils (or Beans) That Won't Make You Feel "Poor"

In reference to eating rice and beans, I often hear comments of this nature: "so poor they could only eat rice and beans," or "eating rice and beans makes me feel poor," or "rice and beans are so monotonous."

Rice and beans (or lentils) get such a bad rap. Most folks seems to think that this combination is "poor man's food." While it's true that in many regions of the world where poverty is high, rice and beans are staples of the diet primarily because, as a protein source, rice and beans are much more affordable than protein foods like meat and dairy. However, rice and beans (or lentils) can also be tasty and enjoyable, whether one is on a budget or not.

I do understand that the texture of the combination can be unappealing, and in some cases, the fiber or carbs are unwelcome. I'm not suggesting that everyone should add rice and beans/lentils to their menus. But, in case you would like to incorporate them more often, I thought I'd share how I prepare them.

The way that I make rice and lentils (or beans) is heavy on the veggies. This not only adds more servings of vegetables to our diet, but it also greatly improves the texture of the dish, while still being a very budget-friendly meal. The vegetables that I choose are typically inexpensive ones, such as garden greens, onions, canned tomatoes, and canned corn. 

The manner in which I prepare this dish is much like fried rice, only it's a Tex-Mex version. I use leftover rice (or a pot made fresh, either way works), cooked lentils or beans, lots of veggies, then all stir fried in a large skillet with plenty of oil.

One of the great things about rice and lentils is how quick this dish can come together. I can decide in the mid-afternoon that this is what I will serve and have it on the table in time for dinner. No meat to thaw, and no beans to soak. Lentils don't require any soaking and cook in the same amount of time as a pot of rice, meaning that this is a very quick bean-based meal.

You've probably noticed that my family eats a lot of rice and lentils. It's quick, tasty, nutritious, and extremely cheap to make. This and homemade bean burritos (in homemade flour tortillas) are our main budget Tex-Mex foods. These two dishes don't require buying any commercial products, as we make our own yogurt (to use in place of sour cream), salsa, and tortillas. I consider both rice and lentils to be low in hands-on effort, making these foods ideal for busy people who need to conserve their budget.

This post was inspired by Vivian, who requested that I share my method for preparation of rice and lentils in the comments on this post about how I feed the 4 of us adults on a budget of $125 to $135 per month. Here you go, Vivian. I hope this gives you some inspiration for making rice and lentils in ways that appeal to you more.

Frugal Holiday Baking: Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk

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With holiday baking right around the corner, this recipe may be useful to some of us. Homemade sweetened condensed milk works in those bar cookie recipes (like Magic Bars) where ingredients are layered then the milk is poured over all, Tres Leche cake, homemade ice cream (very quick and easy ice cream if you have some of this in the fridge), to make your own seasonal coffee creamers, candy-making (such as fudge), or caramel sauce. 

Making your own sweetened condensed milk uses just milk, sugar, butter, and vanilla (if desired.) While this recipe yields just over 3/4 cup of finished product (about 8 to 9 ounces), larger batches can be made to keep in the refrigerator for up to 10 days and use in many different baking/cooking recipes.

The savings -- less than half the cost of commercial 
For a price comparison, Walmart's Great value brand of SCM is $1.64 at my local store, or 11.7 cents per ounce. I may find it on sale during holiday baking sales for about $1.50 for a 14-oz can, or 10.7 cents per ounce. My homemade version cost me about 26 to 30 cents in ingredients, and about 5 cents for the gas stove, for a total of about 30 to 35 cents, or 3.5 to 4 cents per ounce. I buy my milk, sugar, and butter at very low prices, so your cost may differ.

Enjoy!!!

I use a heat diffuser on my stove-top when cooking heat-sensitive items such as caramels or this condensed milk. My diffuser came with my range, but there are many on the market, at a wide range in price points. Diffusers lift the pan up very slightly and spread the heat over a larger surface of the pan's bottom. Some are suitable for all stove-types (gas, electric coil, glass top), while others appear to work best on one or two types of surfaces. Obviously, reading the comments/reviews by consumers is always a help to see if the product will work for your needs and requirements.

Here's one that I like because it has a handle that is removable, meaning it has a smaller storage footprint with the benefit of a handle when you want one. You could even leave the handle in a drawer most of the time and "store" this right on one of the back burners of your stove. That's what I do. The diffuser is handy for when I want it but out of the way most of the time.
(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.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for Early Autumn

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

Friday
baked Mediterranean chicken leg quarters (relying on info from this page for seasonings)
brown rice with gravy
spaghetti squash

Saturday
chicken, vegetable, lentil, and noodle soup
toasted cheese sandwiches

Sunday
lentil and cheese burritos in homemade tortillas
sauteed chard and onions
tomatoes in vinaigrette
rustic blackberry pie

Monday
homemade cheese pizza (using this crust recipe and this pizza sauce recipe)
leftover spaghetti squash
tossed garden salad

Tuesday
chicken nachos (daughter was making the nachos and she wanted to use potato chips as the base, so she bought those for us)
carrot sticks
blackberry tart

Wednesday
tacos - beef (once again relying on the page on cuisines and their seasonings), beans, cheese, garden lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, sour cream (other daughter making dinner and wanted pre-made taco shells and sour cream, so she bought those for us)
grapes (daughter bought)

Thursday
baked beans
acorn squash
fresh-baked French bread
tossed salad of garden lettuce, watercress and tomato, plus avocado in homemade dressing
rhubarb and blackberry sauce (last of the rhubarb for the year)

The Dwindling Garden and Chilly Weather
I'm in the last handful of weeks that harvesting from the garden will be possible for this year. The vegetables and fruit dwindle a bit each week. Our neighbors just across the street have had frost on their roof the past few mornings. I've added extra quilts and blankets to the bed each night, only to have the next night even colder. As I type this, I'm a little anxious to go out and check the garden once the sky is light. Yesterday when I was out there, I could tell that the cold air was affecting our produce. I brought 2 of the pots in which I have lettuce plants up to the kitchen door. I'm hoping to keep lettuce going for another couple of weeks. The kale, sorrel, watercress, and chard should be okay in the garden.

As I was popping my dish of beans into the oven, yesterday afternoon, I was reminded of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. The dish of beans combined with the dwindling garden made me think of her book The Long Winter. I pray that is not in our forecast, of course. The simple foods of beans, garden produce, and fresh bread are very appreciated on a chilly evening.

A Couple of Treats
Perhaps you've noticed that my two daughters like to treat us to a few items that are not in our current budget. If this is what they really want to do, then we'll happily accept their generosity. This week we were the beneficiaries of potato chips, taco shells, sour cream, and grapes.

Monthly Grocery Spending
We enjoyed the company of some last-minute, out-of-town guests this past week. It was lovely to catch up with them. I did spend extra money from our grocery budget, money that I had not anticipated spending for October -- $14.63. We needed some food items beyond what our current pantry, fridge, and freezer could offer. The good news is that we didn't get take-out or eat in restaurants but instead, we cooked all our meals at home. The $14.63 spend brings my total spent for October up to $133.13 for the 4 of us (and guests). I'm still below the $148.31 allocated for the month (the $135 budget plus residual budget amount from September).

Breakfasts and Lunches
Breakfasts consisted of homemade granola, overnight steel cut oats, toasted French bread, homemade yogurt, eggs, and assorted condiments.

Lunches were frequently leftovers, an occasional egg, peanut butter on homemade bread, fresh and frozen fruit, tomatoes, cabbage, lettuce, and kale, and blackberry tart (I baked a couple of tarts this week).

Hallowe'en on the Horizon & Budget Treats
Here's my "stash" of Hallowe'en goodies. The 22-count fun-size M&Ms were on markdown for $1.49 a couple of months ago but are still within their expiry date. And the glow bracelets (14 left in the container) were bought at Dollar Tree last year. We only get 12 to 20 trick-or-treaters each year. I think we have enough treats to hand out. 

The candy corn was on markdown right after Easter. Can you see the carrot shape of the plastic bag? Fred Meyer had a bunch of these left at the tail end of their Easter clearance, selling for 33 cents per "carrot" bag. We'll use these when we make our Jack o' lantern cookies next week. 

So, not much of a Hallowe'en stash. But what we have will do. I am thankful that we won't have a lot of extra candy leftover. Although, I think my daughters and husband will be more than a little disappointed in that.

And that's about it for my week. How was your week? What was on your menu? Are you ready for Hallowe'en? Do you get trick-or-treaters at all?