This and that: Prom, frugal-style and Gluten-free Brownie Bites

This . . . Prom, frugal-style

I guess they do look a bit alike.
Someone asked them the other day if they were sisters. Ya think?

I was talking with my sister on the phone the other day. She has a son and two step-sons, no daughters. Her girlfriends, who do have daughters, were telling her that prom was a huge expense these days. Dresses can run several hundred dollars. Professional hair stylists and make-up artists are hired. Jewelry and shoes are purchased just for the event. You get the picture. Anyways, my sister was asking me if prom was expensive for our two daughters. Oh, did I ever get a laugh out of that. I hadn't really thought about staying within a budget for prom. We just did prom the way we do most things, frugal-style.

So, this is prom, frugal-style.

One daughter wore a dress that she had sewn for herself last summer. She wore sandals and a pair of my pantyhose. She used a gift card (Christmas present from her brother) to buy some costume jewelry. She borrowed my electric curlers, and used a touch of her own lip gloss.

My other daughter went to Value Village (thrift shop) on 50% off day, and spent a whopping $5 for a dress. She, too, wore sandals, but chose to go bare-legged. She borrowed a bit of eye-liner, used her own mascara and lip gloss (my girls are not into make-up yet). She wore earrings that I gave to her for her birthday and a necklace that belonged to my mom as a girl.

Tickets were $25 per student. My daughters' school does prom really cool, I think. Everyone comes single, so that it doesn't feel like a couples-only thing. Then, for the price of the ticket, they provide a catered dinner, karaoke, talent competition, video dance games and dancing. It's a very fun night, and not at all pricey.

Anyway, I just had to laugh a bit, when my sister asked if prom was expensive for us. We weren't trying to do this frugally. It just turned out that way.

And that . . .

Now, for the other thing on my list today -- the recipe for Gluten-free Dark Chocolate Brownie Bites.

Basically I've just adjusted my regular brownie recipe. As these are strictly for me (sorry, I don't share my chocolate), I make them how I like them, less sweet and more chocolate. This recipe makes 12 mini-muffin size brownie bites. I've made these with both home-ground rice flour and commercial rice flour. The commercial ones are definitely smoother. But in a pinch, I'm happy to have the grain-ier home-ground ones as well. My brownie bites are not chewy, but closer to torte-like.

1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup gluten-free flour blend (brown rice flour, millet flour and xanthan or guar gum -- my blend is here, if you need an approximation, use 2 tablespoons rice flour, 2 tablespoons millet flour, 1/16th teaspoon xanthan or guar gum)
3/8 cup cocoa powder

In a small bowl, beat together egg, sugar, salt and vanilla, until light. 

Add melted butter. Continue beating until thoroughly blended.

Mix in GF flour blend and cocoa powder.

Place cupcake papers into a mini muffin tin. I also like to spray the papers with non-stick cooking spray, so that not a speck of the brownies stick to the paper (I take my chocolate seriously, and don't want any wasted). This is probably not totally necessary. But it's what I do.

We all know why we really make brownies, to eat the batter, right? Brownie batter is one of the best kitchen creations, IMO. But, unless you're going to eat all that batter today, you might as well bake some of these up.  So, scoop a spoonful of the batter into each muffin section.

I have no self-control -- I ate one right away, before I could get a picture
these are done cake-style, btw

Bake at 350 degrees F, for 12-13 minutes for gooey brownies, or 14 minutes for cake brownies. The cake brownies are still dense, due to the extra cocoa powder, not light and airy, as some cake-like brownies can be.

Store in a covered container. I've enjoyed these a week after baking, but never later than that. They don't last any longer with me around!

Grinding brown rice into flour with a coffee mill or blender

home-ground brown rice flour, using my coffee mill

Twenty-five years ago, when my doctor first suggested an elimination diet, you couldn't buy rice flour in a regular grocery store, let alone all the other varieties of non-glutinous grains. You had to go to a specialty health food store to buy these grains, as well as non-dairy milks. And even so, rice flour was packaged in small bags, and very expensive, compared to wheat flour. Almond milk, soy milk, rice milk, hemp milk and hazel milk were non-existent in the regular grocery store, with the exception of soy-based infant formula.

What was I to do? Well, I went to the local library and found the one and only book about food allergies and intolerances. I poured through the book as quickly as I could. The first half of the book outlined elimination diets, most common allergens, and how to reintroduce foods back into my diet. The second half was what became very valuable to me. It covered how to make your own nut milks and rice flour, in your own kitchen, using basic home-kitchen equipment.

I made my own almond milk and rice flour, using my blender. And this made satisfactory milk and flour. Without an actual grain mill, it's hard to get flour to a fine grind. So my rice flour did have a bit of graininess to it, but really, after what I'd been through for many months of tummy troubles, I was just so glad to be able to eat anything and feel okay.

I have since discovered that I can use my coffee grinder, combined with a sifter, to grind brown rice and millet into flour. It's a little quicker, and maybe slightly less grainy, than the blender. Here's how I make brown rice flour at home. (You can still just use a blender for grinding the rice, if you don't have a coffee grinder.)

In the coffee mill, I grind about 2 tablespoons of brown rice at a time. 

After a minute of running the grinder, I have a product that looks like the above photo. I pour this coarse flour into a bowl as I go, and continue until I have about a cup of flour.

I, then, pass all of the coarse flour through a sifter. The particles that don't go through the sifter get reground in the coffee mill, until all material passes through the fine holes of the sifter. 

What I am left with is an ever-so-slightly grainy, brown rice flour. For texture's sake, I like to combine home-ground rice flour with a commercial millet flour in recipes. This gives me a fairly decent flour blend for home-style muffins, pancakes and cookies. And I save about $1.50 per pound on the rice flour by grinding it myself. If I am wanting a baked product with a less grainy texture (even I get picky at times), then I just splurge and buy the brown rice flour at the bulk bin, health food store.

Initially, I really disliked xanthan gum. I felt it left an off taste and gummy texture to the finished product. Then I discovered that I was using much more than I needed. I began using less than recipes often called for, and still had good results. For quick breads, my ratio of xanthan gum to flour is 1/4 teaspoon of xanthan gum to 1 cup of non-glutinous flour.

I've streamlined my GF baking process a bit, by mixing a batch of flours and gum, and storing in a container ready for baking.

My current flour "recipe" is 1 cup of brown rice flour, 1 cup of millet flour, 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum. I blend this all together with a whisk to insure the gum is well-distributed. I use this, measure for measure, in quick bread recipes. 

If you are serious about a GF, or other food allergy, diet, you should know what xanthan gum is and from what it's derived.Xanthan gum is a fermented product combining a specific bacteria most often with a corn-based product. The bacteria can also be combined with a wheat, dairy or soy product. It's advisable to find out the source of the xanthan gum before using, in case it happens to be on your list of foods to avoid. If you're buying a prepackaged bag of xanthan gum, that info should be on the label. If you are purchasing from a bulk bin, the shop should be able to find out the source for you. If you have a sensitivity to corn, or the source for your xanthan gum is one of the foods on your sensitivity list, then guar gum may be a better binding agent for your GF baking. Guar gum comes from a legume seed. It's often less expensive than xanthan gum, and is used in the same proportions as xanthan gum.

I currently am using xanthan gum as, over the course of 7 or 8 years, I've never had a problem with it, and I happened to still have some in the cupboard for this go round with an elimination diet. I'll give the guar gum a try when I run out of the xanthan gum. Aside from individual sensitivities to these products, some people experience digestive upsets, especially when consumed in large quantities. All the more reason for me to want to use as little as possible in baking. When looking over most GF recipes, I'd say that I use about half the amount of xanthan gum than is called for. And so far, my baked goods, pancakes and waffles all turn out well.

I still bake all the regular breads and desserts for our family. But I also bake up a small stash of things that I can eat, and keep most of them in the freezer. This week I've made myself some banana muffins, biscuits and brownies. Banana breads/muffins do particularly well with gluten-free baking, as the fruit gives moisture which binds the dry ingredients together. And I really like my brownie bites -- individual, dark chocolate brownies, baked in a mini muffin tin. I'll post my recipe for GF Brownie Bites tomorrow. Right now, I've got to run and get my daughters from school.

This is a huge week in the life of our family. It's not just the end of the school year for us. But my 2 babies graduate from high school on Friday night. Saturday, they have their last 2 performances with their high school dance groups. And Sunday, we're driving north to visit my kids' 91 year old grandpa, for Father's Day.

I have mixed feelings about my daughters growing up. On the one hand, I'm excited for them, for new opportunities in their futures. But also, this is the end of a phase of my life. I won't be driving any of my kids to and from school any more. I'll miss our daily conversations. Car time means I have a captive audience. We've discussed fashion, international conflicts, boys, elections, walks with God, menu planning, career planning, allowance (and how to earn more, always a popular subject), friendships, family joys and sorrows, hobbies, music, art, dance and much more. I'm not sure what the future holds for me. But I know that it's just around the corner.

Till next time, have a great day!

The gluten-free life and breakfast

A couple of weeks ago, when I said I hadn't been feeling well, it was food allergy, intolerance, and/or sensitivity-related, and had just gotten the best of me. I had a whopper of a reaction that left me sick for almost a week. I'm still working out what I can and can not eat. 

For the time being, I'm dairy and gluten-free. The dairy part I'm very used to. I've been unable to eat dairy for 25 years. The gluten is a little more difficult. I've been on and off gluten over the years. The western diet is very heavy in foods containing wheat -- pizza, pasta, burritos, cookies, cakes -- all some of my favorite foods. I am hopeful, that at some time, I can re-introduce some of the foods I can't have right now, on a rotation schedule (once every 2 or 3 days).


So, what can you eat when you're dairy and gluten-free? 

I have chosen not to eat all those packaged "gluten-free" products, instead preferring a whole foods diet, for a couple of reasons.

For one thing, many of the packaged gluten-free specialty foods are lacking in nutrients. In place of wheat flour, many use potato starch, tapioca flour, white rice flour and added sugar, to achieve the desired texture of their wheat-based counterparts. It's important to remember that gluten-free does not necessarily mean healthy. I had a sample of a gluten-free, dairy-free Oreo-type cookie yesterday, at the organic/health-foods store. Sure it won't cause a reaction in my body, but it won't add any nutrients, either.

With a whole foods approach, I can look at a sweet potato and see for myself that there is no lurking ingredient that will do me in. And with home-baking, I know exactly what goes into every item I bake.

Also, eating a lot of packaged gluten-free foods pushes a lot of healthier foods out of the diet. I think I've had a tendency to eat too many grain-based foods in the past, when I could use a larger variety of foods in my diet. I find that I am much more likely to put together a healthy and balanced snack when I don't have the manufactured g-free products in the kitchen.

Some of the gluten-free replacement foods are just awful. I've tried the g-free spaghetti and didn't like the ball of glue it cooked into. The rice flour tortillas were horrible. I'd hate to spend $6 on a loaf of g-free bread only to discover it was just as bad.

And if those reasons weren't enough for me, gluten-free manufactured foods are very expensive. $6 for 4 hamburger buns, or a small loaf of bread. $6 for a box of gluten-free brownie mix. $3 for a 6-count package of some of the worst rice flour tortillas I've ever tasted (yes, I caved and bought a package. I wanted a burrito. These were terrible. I'll stick to corn tortillas from now on.) $5 for 2 cupcakes. $4.50 for a smallish package of gluten-free Oreo-type cookies. I can see buying the burger buns, for a special cook-out. But if we're doing burgers, I think I can also just eat mine animal-style (In-n-Out Burger -- burger and all the fixings wrapped in a lettuce leaf). Otherwise, I'm a good baker, and there are lots of gluten-free recipes online.

Breakfasts on a gluten-free diet

Of the meals in the western diet, breakfast seems to be the one that centers most around either wheat or oats. We're often in a hurry in the mornings, and breakfasts of cold cereal, toast, and pastries are quick to grab and go. The newly gluten-free faces the shelves at the organic/health foods store and is stunned by the prices on those small boxes of g-free cereal and 2-count packages of g-free muffins.

And for some of us, our bodies have been starving of nutrients, in the weeks leading up to a diagnosis of gluten sensitivity. What we're really needing is for our breakfasts to be fully-loaded with nutrients -- fruits, vegetables, and protein.

Here are some of my favorite dairy-free, gluten-free breakfasts, many of which would also work as paleo breakfasts (you may notice there are no eggs here, I've had to minimize those as well for the time being).

Turkey bacon, grilled apple slices, sauteed carrots -- I use one skillet to prepare everything, simple clean-up for me.

Sausage and sweet potato hash browns -- I cook the whole package of sausage at a time and store in the freezer, taking out just what I need at a time and heat in the microwave. For quick sweet potato hashbrowns, I peel an entire sweet potato, then cut off a chunk as needed for breakfast, wrap the rest of the sweet potato and store in the fridge. I dice the sweet potato, then microwave the dices for 1 minute, to pre-cook. Then I saute the dices in a bit of oil in a skillet. It just takes a few minutes until they're golden.

Tapioca "pudding", not very sweet, made with tapioca pearls, almond milk, 1 stevia packet, 1 teaspoon sugar, vanilla extract -- I make a batch and keep in the fridge. Some mornings I want just a couple of spoonfuls before I head out the door to take my daughters to school. Then when I come back I have a proper breakfast. (This is not a terribly nutrient-dense breakfast. Tapioca is a starch, the root of the cassava plant. But I like keeping some cooked not-too-sweet tapioca on hand, as it is one of the few foods that my stomach can handle on a bad day, even better than rice.)

Leftover brown rice, sauteed in butter, with cinnamon, almond slices and raisins -- this is one of my old favorites. I've been eating this for breakfast for 20 years. It goes together quickly and heats while my coffee is brewing (I add the raisins at the very end, so they don't scorch).

Gluten-free banana muffins -- made with millet flour, brown rice flour and xanthan gum. I'll post the recipe next week, along with my gluten-free dark chocolate brownie bites recipe.

Leftover baked potato, re-warmed, with butter, along with some turkey bacon -- bacon can be cooked ahead and frozen, making this an even quicker breakfast.

Gluten-free pumpkin pancakes -- using brown rice flour, millet flour and xanthan gum, again. Another of my old favorites. 25 years ago I was on an elimination diet to determine allergies. Grocery stores didn't have gluten-free bread products. Rice flour pancakes (made with my home-ground brown rice flour done in the blender) were my staple bread. I had them for breakfast and at lunch with peanut butter. Adding pureed fruit or vegetable helps the texture of non-wheat quick breads.

Buckwheat pancakes -- buckwheat is not a wheat, and so can be eaten by the gluten sensitive.

Puffed rice or puffed millet cereal, with sliced bananas, almond slivers and almond milk -- we had a bag each of rice and millet cereal in the pantry. These are bland at best, on their own, but have taste, texture and added nutrients when fruit and nuts are added. The one redeeming thing about these packaged puffed grain cereals is they are simple. Just the grain, often times the whole grain. No surprises. No weird dough conditioners, preservatives or food colorings. My stomach can't take any more surprises this month.

You may notice that many people with gluten sensitivity also tend to eat more paleo (fruits, vegetables, roots, nuts, eggs and meat), and minimize grains in their diets. Some of us find we actually feel best with fewer grains, even the gluten-free grains. So, many of my breakfasts just don't have grains at all. And I feel better if I don't start in on any grains until lunch or later.


I've now been completely gluten and dairy free for 3 weeks. I feel loads better, and have even had a surprise or two. My belly bloat is totally gone. I no longer look pregnant. And a patch of eczema is showing remarkable improvement. I'll have to see if the eczema continues to improve. Eczema can mysteriously clear up, then reappear. So, I'll wait before any definitive pronouncements on that situation.

Next on The gluten-free life, how I grind my own brown rice flour. I read about this, in the one and only book in the public library on food allergies, 25 years ago. There were not a lot of resources for people with food issues back then. Practically no one had heard of Celiac at the time. Major grocery store chains did not sell almond, hemp, rice or soy milk, except as infant formula. Back then, I made my own almond milk, in the blender. The only kind of gluten-free bread I ever saw was this really awful-looking white rice flour bread, and even that was in a health-food store. A lot has changed. There are many options now. But I still like to make this as affordable as possible.

Have a great weekend!

Rhu-sins: dried, sweetened rhubarb

rhu-sins added to homemade granola, stirred in just after baking

Tangy, with a hint of sweetness, rhu-sins are my budget alternative to dried cranberries. Sweetened, dried rhubarb, can be used in ways that fresh rhubarb just doesn't work all that well.

rhu-sins tossed with lettuce, toasted almond slices and a fruity dressing

I use rhu-sins in homemade granola, added to nuts and chocolate chips for trail mix, tossed in a green salad with sliced almonds and a fruity dressing, baked in scones and cookies, as a topping for plain oatmeal, and snacking out of hand. I can use dried, sweetened rhubarb in the same ways that I use dried cranberries, only these are almost free!


Let's get started.

To dry rhubarb, I use a dehydrator and standard dehydrator trays. I lay a sheet of waxed paper over each tray, poking a hole in the center where the ventilation shaft is, and folding the corners under, so the paper fits the tray (does not have to be perfectly round, as you'll see). *And this next step is important* I spray the waxed paper with non-stick cooking spray.

I wash and chop the rhubarb into dices between 1/4-inch and 1/2-inch.

I toss the diced rhubarb with sugar, between 1 and 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar for each stalk of rhubarb. I only use the greater amount of sugar with very large stalks. I tend to prefer our rhu-sins a bit on the tart side. If you prefer a sweeter dried fruit, use the 2 tablespoons per stalk. Taste a couple of pieces raw, to get an idea of how sweet you'd like your rhu-sins.

In my 4-tray set-up, I can dry 8 stalks of rhubarb at a time. This is about 10 cups of diced rhubarb.

I spread the sugared rhubarb onto the prepared dehydrator trays, then stack the trays in the machine. I set the temperature for fruits/vegetables, about 135 degrees F. Allow to dry for about 8 hours, until the pieces are dry, but not hard.

Too long of drying will leave you with hard pieces. Too little drying and your rhu-sins could develop mold. But this is standard for all fruit-drying.

And that's it. After the pieces are dried, I scoop them off the waxed paper-lined trays and store in an airtight jar.

I dehydrate rhubarb from May through September, as our rhubarb plants allow. We find it to be a refreshing change of pace from raisins and dried cranberries.

A view of our gardens: the Low Garden

It's peak rhubarb season in our yard, right now. I have so much rhubarb that I have extra to freeze and dehydrate.

Last winter a couple of you indicated that you'd like to see a sketch of the layout of our gardens. I set out to do that yesterday morning. So, here's the first preliminary sketch. It's not to scale. (The lawn is not nearly so square -- oops!) But fairly representative of the layout. I have a set amount of time I can devote to working on my blog and reading other blogs, so sketching this out without a measuring tape was the quick way.

This is our backyard, from the deck on out. The back of our house faces south. Two-thirds of our yard is on one level. The last third (to the east -- left-hand side of page) sits about 3 feet lower at it's deepest point. We call this area the low garden or the sunken garden. It's where the small pond is. (There's a large natural pond just to the other side of the white garden.)

I like to think of the different sections of our yard as rooms, each with its own personality, use and decor.

view on the west side of the low garden

The west side of the low garden receives the most sun. I have 3 blueberry bushes and the 3 largest rhubarb plants at the north end of this section. I grow mints in the shade of one of the blueberries. I have large pots sunk into the ground for the mints, to control rampant spread. The stone path winds down to the pond and my tea garden, where my I have some lavender, chamomile, and lemon balm.

view on the east side of the low garden

From the other side of the cherry tree is a stone path (still under construction) that meets up with the other path, around the pond. This area is in the shade of large weeping willow, but still receives a few hours of afternoon sun. I have 1 blueberry bush here, and 5 rhubarb plants. Under the willow is where I have my spring garden. It's filled with spring-flowering bulbs and plants that do well in the weeks before the willow leafs out. In summer, the hostas and lilies take over for small specks of color.

The soil in the low garden has been beefed up with a lot of compost, and hence is very rich. It was the site of our first compost pile. For the first 4 years, we added and added material. Now, it's an excellent spot for rhubarb and blueberries. It also receives a good share of afternoon sun each day, for our yard that is (remember, we're in the pacific northwest where trees grow tall).

With the rhubarb, I began with 3 plants. I originally planted them near the house. They were quite unhappy there and never did much. When I moved them to the low garden, I also divided them, giving us 6 plants. And when I moved 1 of the plants one more time, I inadvertently divided that one into several small plants, giving us a total of 12 plants. I have since given away 4 of those plants, leaving us with 8 healthy plants. I've got another plant spoken for for the fall, when I can dig them again. I think 6 plants would eventually be an ideal number for our needs.


In addition to the rhubarb and blueberries, we have many perennials in the low garden, including day lilies, iris, oriental and asiatic lilies, spring-flowering bulbs, hostas, rhododendron, ferns, azalea, the mints, my tea garden, and an assortment of succulents. Our thought was more tropical looking plants for this area. Unfortunately, slugs like to dine on many of the tropicals, so it's a never ending battle between me and my flowers, and the slugs. I made an addition to the low garden on Tuesday. I added a water lily to the pond. It was on clearance at Home Depot, so we'll see if it grows at all.

I mentioned that I've been dehydrating rhubarb. I'll give details on how I do that and what I use this sweetened, dried rhubarb for, tomorrow.

My top 5 outdoor chores to make my lazy, hazy days of summer fabulous

I could think of over a dozen things that I'd like to get done or set up before summer begins. Couldn't you? But I'd make myself crazy if all those things became must-dos. So, to preserve my last speck of sanity, I settled on 5 must-dos. I can tackle one or two per week and be set for summer, by month's end.

Here they are.

My 5 (and only 5) Must-Do Outdoor Tasks for June 


1) Repair and/or install screens

There's nothing like fresh air in the house. Many of the window screens are still in place from last summer. But I still have a couple of bare windows. And the doors to the deck don't have screens. I've ordered some drop-down screens for the two sets of French doors. They hang on tension rods and velcro to the sides. Each has an opening in the middle that seals shut with magnets after passing through.

2) Plant some flowers in a spot that I see each and every day

The plain truth -- flowers make my heart sing. I have two pots that hold crocus and tulip bulbs for early spring. I'll plant some annuals over the bulbs and set the pots on the steps to the kitchen door. That should brighten that spot nicely.

3) Finish cleaning up the deck and patio

Nothing more embarrassing than wearing light-colored pants, sitting down on a dirty/mossy chair, only to be tagged with a "nature" print on your seat. With the help of one of my teens, I've been scrubbing the chairs and deck over the past month. This is a huge chore, as moss covers everything in our yard. I began with the table/chair set, and have been working my way around the furniture groupings. Getting the deck floor cleaned was essential to keeping the legs of all the newly-cleaned furniture nice-looking, as rain causes a splash-back effect on chair/table legs. I just have a couple of chairs and one patch of the deck left.

4) Fill the citronella/cedar torches with new oil to keep those pesky mosquitos at bay

I'm allergic, and those pests seem to know it. I am always the first one bitten in this household! After fixing my blunder with the torches from last year (they were left outside all winter and the wicks became waterlogged), I got them refilled and in working order.

5) Put a timer on the sprinklers/hoses and set up the seeping hoses

With a timer, I can just turn on the sprinkler or seeping hoses to water shrubs and flowers and forget it. If I have to run out for something, or have plans, I don't have to work my errands or schedule around watering. For this job, I'll need three more lengths of seeping hose for garden areas that I want to keep watered this summer.

That's it. These are my must-do jobs for this month, so that the rest of summer can be filled with fabulous, lazy, hazy days!

What are your top jobs to get done before the summer heat rolls in?

JOY! It's a joy-filled day!

No, I'm not celebrating anything in particular. Just counting my many small blessings, that when all totaled, amount to  ONE BIG, FAT, BLESSED LIFE.

I am strong, capable, and healthy. My mind is sound. I can tackle problems and find solutions. I am resilient. I persevere.

I have friends and family who have my back when I need them. And more importantly, my friends and family need me, giving my daily life its purpose.

My car runs. My home gives me shelter. I have clothing that doesn't look like rags. I have an abundance of food. My wallet is not empty. My bills are paid.

The flowers in my garden are blooming. The strawberries are ripening. The birds' song each morning reminds me that it is June.

The days are long. The sun is high. It clears the trees and fills our yard with brightness. The morning light comes in through the kitchen window with our breakfast.

The dishes are done. The kitchen is swept. My day awaits.

I haven't a thing to complain about. The minor inconveniences of life are not worthy of a complaint. Who could complain? I have so many blessings to be thankful for.

May Grocery Money Journal (I came, and I shopped, and I spent!!!)

So, for the month of May, in a nutshell -- I came. I saw. And I spent. I guess that's what happens when you follow a month with extremely low spending.

But seriously, yes there were things that we needed to restock. But also, there were items that I'd been wanting to buy for a short while, such as the vodka for making more vanilla, and the almond milk, as another alternative milk to have on hand, and all the peanut butter so I could thrill my two peanut fiends in the household, and there's the seafood, which was an addition to my usual monthly spending (not super expensive seafood, just some shrimp and several cans of tuna).  All these extra items added up to more spending than usual. But I'm fine with that. (Although, of everything I bought, I am still scratching my head over the purchase of a packet of nori. It took forever for us to use up the last batch of nori! Go figure -- my brain was on pause after several hours of babysitting that morning. Shopping when tired and hungry is never a good idea with me.)

I've been wondering, is there a right size for a grocery budget? Is there a flat percentage of income that would be the right amount? Or a dollar per person? I don't really believe so. I think the right size budget is the one that:

a) suits your cooking style (do you enjoy cooking from scratch? do you have time to cook from scratch? do using a few convenience foods to prepare meals at home keep you eating at home instead of dining out regularly?)
b) reflects your eating choices (are you all organic/free-range, are you vegan or carnivore, those sort of choices),
c) allows for dietary restrictions (some dietary restrictions make keeping to a budget down-right difficult),
d) embodies just how much work you want to put into obtaining your food supply (gardening, foraging, bartering, shopping many stores, etc)
e) takes into consideration the cost of living in your area and availability of shopping options
f) and still fits within your income

And a grocery budget isn't static. Prices fluctuate. Needs change. Families grow and households shrink. A "right" budget, for my family, is the one that provides us with high nutritional content, pleasurable, but still simple, at-home dining experiences, and a small amount of preparation convenience. I am at home most days and I do enjoy cooking from scratch, as well as keeping a kitchen garden. Your "right" budget may be larger or smaller than ours, and still be the right fit for you.

Just some random thoughts on grocery budgets in different households. Now, here's how my May's spending went.


May 1. Funny thing about April's lack of grocery shopping, you'd think I'd be chomping at the bit to buy, buy, buy! I went to the dollar store and the produce stand today, and found myself rather discriminating in my shopping. Oh, I still bought, but I was selective, read labels and price compared a bit more than usual for me.

What I bought -- Dollar Tree (gotta start at the cheapest place for my restocking) soy milk at $1 a quart ( I actually was enjoying my own homemade rice milk, so I'll likely do a half and half batch of soy milk and rice milk, but the convenience of the boxed soy milk is hard to pass up), salt for 50 cents, peanut butter 10 oz./$1 (this is the kind with hydrogenated oils, I know bad stuff, but it makes the best peanut butter cookies), graham crackers $1 for 10 oz box, marshmallows $1/ 10 oz. bag. This weekend will be the first warm weekend of the year and we're planning a cookout, which means s'mores, hence the graham crackers and marshmallows. Spent $11.50

Produce stand -- bought another 10 lb bag of oranges ($3.98) and 4 small avocados (4/$1). Everything else seemed too high in price to me today. I told you I was discriminating. Spent $4.98

Fred Meyer -- I had the oddest looking selection of items in my shopping cart here. I actually felt self-conscious about what I was buying. Milk, on mark down -- $1.99/gal, 1 can coffee and 1 can 1/2 caff, then the odd one (for me) -- a fifth of vodka. I was making vanilla extract with my free vanilla beans, so needed the vodka -- that stuff is expensive here, with all the taxes! Spent $29.98

Cash and Carry restaurant supply -- 10 lb potatoes ($1.33), 25 lbs onions ($8), 5 lbs. carrots ($1.89), 50 lbs sugar ($22.25 -- so glad to see the price down on sugar, it was close to $30 this time last year), 1 gal vegetable oil ($8.39), 2 lbs raisins ( $4.58), 1 box cornstarch (99 cents). Spent $47.43

Total spent today -- $93.89

May 3. Stopped in at produce stand before getting girls from school, to check their markdown bin. Bought 2 bags of green peppers (4 peppers each bag -- 99 cents/bag), 1 bag green peppers/broccoli (3 peppers and 1 large piece of broccoli -- 99 cents), 1 tomato (22 cents), 1 banana (18 cents), 1 small bundle celery (49 cents), 1 cucumber (33 cents), 5 avocados (5/ $1). Spent $5.19.  I'll chop and freeze most of the peppers, and use the rest in meals for the next few days.

TOP Foods -- needing shrimp for salad tonight (trying to eat seafood more often), also picked up 1 gal of whole milk on sale for $1.99 (making yogurt this next week and whole milk works best for me). Spent $5.16

Total spent month to date -- $104.24

May 8. Trader Joe's for a few basics. Bananas (19 cents each, bought 13), cocoa powder (8 oz. $2.49), roasted almonds (1 lb. $4.99). Spent $9.95 (I also picked up frozen croissant dough, 8 count for $3.99, these are for Mother's Day, and will come out of holiday/celebration budget.)

Total spent month to date -- $114.19

May 9. Albertson's after babysitting and I was tired and hungry, not a good idea, but I did okay in the end. 1 pouch nori ($3.79), 10 cans albacore tuna (88 cents each), 2 dozen eggs (99 cents each dozen), 1 package turkey franks (cookout this weekend -- $1.99), iodized salt (69 cents), small bag of flavored decaf coffee ($3.99 -- I was needing a treat that wouldn't have calories), 30 oz jar mayo ($2.50). Spent $23.74

Dollar Tree now carries peanut butter. It's in tiny 10 oz jars, and it's the junky stuff (comparable to Jif in ingredients and nutrition info). My daughters were sad that we were about out of peanut butter, so we stopped at the Dollar Tree near their school (the one near us had sold out this week). We were in luck, 14 jars left. We bought 10 jars. Spent $10

Total spent month to date -- $147.93   I can see our grocery bill creeping up, and really want to stay within out budget this month. The extra money that we didn't spend last month will go into our daughters's university fund. I don't want to tap into that. I'll have to be creative, and limit my purchases to absolute necessities for the rest of the month.

May 10. Stopped by produce stand and picked up some celery, 2 eggplants, a yam and some seed potatoes for the garden (Yukon Gold and Purple). Spent $4.07

Total spent to date $152.00

May 16. Albertson's for 1 gallon milk ($2.29), 1 dozen eggs (79 cents), 2 lbs. butter ($1.99 ea), stevia ($2) -- Spent $9.06

Produce stand for 3 Roma tomatoes -- 57 cents

Total spent to date $161.63

May 22. Dollar Tree for 4 qts soy milk, 1 bag corn chips, 1 can olives -- $6

Target for turkey kielbasa and non-stick cooking spray -- $4.96

Cash & Carry wholesaler for 10 lbs potatoes( $1.33), bananas (52 cents/lb), 3 pack of celery ($3.92), 5 lbs carrots ($1.95), 5 lbs. shredded cheddar cheese ($10.48), 2 lbs powdered sugar ($1.89), 50 lbs white flour ($13.29) total spent -- $35.34

Total spent month to date -- $207.93

May 24. QFC for milk ($1.59/gal), bought 4 gallons, 2 of which are whole milk, so I'll be making more yogurt next week, milk (99 cents/half gal), bought the last 2 half gallons, turkey franks 99 cents, Hebrew National franks ($3 each), bought 2 packages, baking bananas (39 cents/lb) -- spent $17.85

Albertson's for 1 watermelon at 29 cents/lb. Spent $3.92

Produce stand for weekend dinner produce, corn on the cob (5/$1), a tomato and 2 avocados. Spent $1.73

Month to date spent -- $231.43

May 26. Husband and one daughter went to Dollar Tree and bought 10 jars peanut butter. Spent $10.

May 28. TOP Foods for turkey bacon ($2.99), sausage ($2.49), sweet potatoes ($1.61), apples ($1.65). Total spent here -- $8.74

May 29. Trader Joe's, bought almond milk ($1.69/quart), toasted almond slices ($2.99/8 oz), rice cakes ($1.49). Spent $6.17

May 30. Produce stand, found several marked down items that fit my list, cantaloupe at 25 cents each, mushrooms for 59 cents small bag, cauliflower for large bag at 99 cents. Spent $2.58

Total spent for month of May -- $258.92

I was over our budget by about $60. However I still had surplus money from my low-spend months of Jan and February (I put all the surplus from last month's "eat down the freezer" into our daughters's education fund, so that money is no longer available for grocery spending). I am now right about even in budget vs. spending for groceries for the year.

Our freezers are looking even more bare this month. But that's a good thing. I need room for summer produce. Some of the tastes I'm most looking forward to this summer -- fresh cherries, bruschetta topped with vine-ripe tomatoes and fresh basil, rosemary potatoes, fresh strawberry pie, a bowl of blueberries, and barbecued chicken. I'm hoping for more feast days and no famine ones for this summer!

How about you? What tastes of summer are you most looking forward to?

If I buy marked down produce, how will I keep it from spoiling?

The answer to that question is two-part.

1) I have a plan to use or freeze it right away (same day or within 2 days)

2) I understand how best to store it until it's consumed

I stopped in at the produce stand around the corner from my daughters' school yesterday. I needed fresh fruit for lunches, and mushrooms plus another veggie to add to stir-fry for dinner. I always check the markdown bins first. This is a completely open-air produce stand. They don't have refrigeration on site and produce needs to be sold promptly. Which means good fortune for bargain hunters, as they fill the markdown bins a couple of times per day. Woohoo!

Just look at these cantaloupes! Aren't they beautiful? They had a shopping cart full of cantaloupes marked at 25 to 50 cents each (I bought the 25-centers). These cantaloupes weighed in at about 1 & 1/3 pounds a piece, for a price per pound of around 18 cents. Found my fruit for lunches!

And as luck would have it, they had one bag (1/3 pound) of fresh mushrooms for 59 cents. Got that! And a good-sized bag (2 lbs) of cauliflower florets for 99 cents. Done with my shopping!

The cantaloupe was a great price. And I could have bought several more. But I decided to just buy what we could eat in about 3 days, which I guessed was 4 melons.

Melons this close to expiring need prompt attention. No leaving on the counter for a few days with these. Once home, I washed, sliced and trimmed the rind off the cantaloupes. As you can see, all this melon overfilled the bowl.

Some we had with dinner last night. I also cubed several slices for packing in today's lunches. The rest will keep nicely, covered in the fridge for up to 3 days. This cantaloupe will be our main fruit for the weekend, making part of weekend meal prep a bit easier.

With the mushrooms, as they don't like moisture, I spread them out on a tea towel, while waiting to slice and cook them. And I picked through the cauliflower florets, to use the oldest-looking pieces first in last night's stir-fry. The rest will be cooked and pureed as part of tonight's dinner (used as a topping for Shepherd's Pie  --  thanks Shara for the idea).

Yesterday's great finds at the produce stand will be history by the end of the weekend, with hopefully, no waste whatsoever!

Guacamole Salad Bowl (or how do you get a fish-hater to eat fish?)

First of all I just want to say thanks for the well wishes. I'm doing much better. Sometimes I just run myself into the ground. I've spent a good deal of the last few days just napping, or doing nothing in particular. And now, life feels much easier this week. But thank you for your kind messages.

What I want to share with you today is a recipe that my mom clipped out of a magazine back in 1962. (Isn't it fun to find old recipes, cut from newspapers or magazines, many years ago?)

I think I've mentioned that I am trying to eat more fish. However, I really do not care for it (okay, that's an understatement so grand it borders on a fib). You know how some things just smell "bad" to you? Well, fish just smells "bad" to me. Frankly I don't understand how anybody ever thought to eat it in the first place. But everybody says that it's good for me, so I am making an effort to eat more of it.

So, not being a fan of fish, I have to look hard to find a recipe that I'm even willing to try. My foray into salmon patties a few months ago, was a miserable one. The smell of canned salmon was so horrible that I kept asking the fam if they thought I had bought a can that was contaminated with some deadly bacteria. I ate one itty bitty salmon patty, while the family devoured the remainder. No one died, so I guess the can was safe, after all.

Then I remembered this recipe of my mom's. I actually made this several times in the earlier years of our marriage. And it's one of the few ways that I will happily eat canned tuna.

This is a pantry entree salad -- the kind of thing that you may already have many of the ingredients, sitting in your pantry right now. It's fresh tasting, has some crunch, and is covered in a creamy, avocado dressing. It's called Guacamole Salad Bowl. And it can be whipped up in about 15 minutes, start to finish.

I am always quite generous with the corn chips (so I won't be judging you if you use way more than the 1-cup called for in the recipe!!). I like the crunch and salty flavor. My mom always used Fritos, so that's what I prefer. I suppose if what you have is tortilla chips, they would work just as well.

Guacamole Salad Bowl

Serves 4 to 6

1/2 medium head of iceberg lettuce, washed (or 1 full head of either Romaine or Loose leaf lettuce --enough for 4 to 6 persons in a main dish salad)
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
1/2 cup sliced, pitted black olives
1/4 cup chopped green onions (I used shallot greens in this salad, but I've also subbed chives before)
1 cup corn chips
1 drained can of tuna, 6 1/2-, 7 1/2-, or 9 1/2 ounces (this recipe is from a time when cans of tuna contained 7 ounces in the US. Currently, most tuna is packed in 5 oz. cans. I use 2 cans of tuna for a recipe. For 5 of us that's 2 ounces per person)
1 recipe Avocado Dressing (you could use any guacamole, thinned with salad or olive oil)
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
additional olives for garnish, if desired

Break/tear lettuce into a large bowl. Add tomato wedges, olives, green onions, corn chips and tuna.

Toss gently with Avocado Dressing. Top with cheese, garnish with extra olive slices and serve.

Avocado Dressing

1/2 cup mashed, very ripe avocado (I use 2 of the peewee avocados sold at our farmer's market. 1 medium avocado would also work well.)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup sour cream (plain yogurt also works. I used mayo plus a little extra lemon juice, as I can't have dairy)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon sugar (optional, I skip it)
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco (hot  pepper sauce) -- I subbed about 2 tablespoons mild salsa for the Tabasco
1/3 cup salad oil (or thereabouts. I use about 1/4 cup of oil)

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, except oil. Blend in enough oil to a dressing consistency.

Enjoy! Even this fish-hater is happy to eat this salad!     :-)   :-)   :-)   :-)   :-)   :-)   :-)   :-)

Today is not a good day

I'm under the weather this week, but hope to be back to my old self by Thursday. I hope your week is going well. Until Thursday,
Lili

Just how inexpensive is it to make herb vinegar? (*plus* my Chive Blossom Vinegar)

(Once again, Saturday's post is going up a little early. But maybe that's a good thing, as you can now plan making herb vinegar into your weekend?)

A gallon of white vinegar costs me $2.49, that's 62 cents per quart, or about 38 cents per 20-ounce bottle. You may find white vinegar for less in your area.



I grow a variety of herbs, both in pots on the deck, and in the garden down below. I make flavored vinegars with many of my herbs. One of my favorites is Rosemary Vinegar. It's delicate rosemary flavor makes a delicious vinaigrette for salads, but I also enjoy it mixed with mayo for a cole slaw dressing.

My herbs are mostly free at this point. Many I started from a packet of seeds. Some I received as divisions from friends. And one or two I actually bought plants at the nursery. My chives I bought as a plant, 22 years ago, and dug up and moved with us to our home 18 years ago. Over the years I have divided it numerous times, so that now I have 4 nice little patches of chives.

So, let's say that the "cost" of my herbs is about 1 cent per batch of vinegar infusion. I reuse bottles year after year. Some of these bottles are repurposed food/sauce bottles, with a cork for a cap. Other bottles were gifts from a friend. And a couple of bottles were purchased either second hand, for about 50 cents per bottle, or retail for about $2 per bottle. Given that I reuse these bottles for years one end, even a $2 bottle will average out to about 20 cents/year after 10 years (and I expect to get many more than 10 years of service from each bottle).

For the sake of argument, we'll add 20 cents for the bottle to the 38 cents (for 20 oz. vinegar), plus 1 cent cost of herbs to the cost of making herb vinegar. So, for a total of 59 cents I can make 20 oz. of beautiful and delicious herb and fruit vinegars (I make berry vinegars as well).

With shop-bought flavored vinegar, you can spend as little as about $3 per bottle, or as much as $20. And a single bottle of shop-bought herb vinaigette salad dressing will set you back between $3 and $5. You can make your own herb vinaigrette for the cost of oil, a pinch of salt and dash of pepper, added to your homemade herb vinegar.

Home-infused herb vinegars keep for a couple of years. I alternate years on which vinegars I make. And I like to experiment, mixing different herbs and spices for new, interesting combinations.

One last thing . . .

herb vinegars are incredible easy to make!!!!!

Here's this month's vinegar, Chive Blossom Vinegar. (for details on making other herb vinegars, see here)  Chives are blossoming heavily this month in my garden. And I like to use the blossoms as well as the greens in recipes.

To make a bottle of Chive Blossom Vinegar, fill a clean jar 2/3 with rinsed and dried chive blossoms. (Spin them out in a salad spinner.)

If you don't have a full 2/3 of a jar of opened blossoms just yet, but you can see that there will be more in a couple of days, you can rinse and store what blossoms you do have in a salad spinner in the fridge for up to 4 days (then pick and wash the rest in 4 days time, for one jar of vinegar). Alternatively, you can make several smaller batches of infused vinegar, over the course of a month or two.

If your chive blossoms are already spent, you can try cutting an area of your chives back, to produce more blooms. This works in my garden, but I keep it watered all summer long.

After you have all the rinsed blossoms in the jar, fill with white vinegar. Cap the jar and wait 1 to 2 weeks. During this time, twice a day, open the jar and poke the blossoms back down into the vinegar.

one week later

After 1 week, you'll have a mild onion-y vinegar. Another 3-7 days and you'll have a slightly more intense vinegar.

Your vinegar is now complete. Strain the vinegar and decant into a clean bottle.

You can make the bottle look "fancy" for gifting, with a single strand of raffia and a tag.

Chive Blossom Vinegar has a delicate onion-y flavor. It's delicious on green salads in vinaigrette, but also, I found it to be a wonderful substitute for rice wine vinegar in many recipes. I make an Asian chicken salad that normally calls for rice wine vinegar. I subbed my Chive Blossom Vinegar for the rice wine vinegar all winter long (saving me a couple of dollars on rice wine vinegar). This vinegar is also wonderful sprinkled over fish and chips, or used in any savory recipe that calls for vinegar.

I finally got the tire with a slow leak repaired - Woo hoo!

So, no more adding air to the tire every few weeks. Yesterday morning, I just got fed up with doing that, and made getting the tire patched a priority.

As soon as I returned home from taking my daughters to school, I phoned the closest tire place (Discount Tire). They were open (and this was minutes after 8 AM). I drove right over and was the second person into the showroom. I'm glad I went right away, as the one thing I'd been dreading was the wait to have them fix the tire. They got my car in right away.

There was a nice enough sitting area, and it didn't smell of tires, as the showroom did. I already had a raging headache, and the tire smell in the showroom was nauseating me. I thought I'd treat myself to a cup of coffee across the parking lot. But as luck had it, they had a pot of coffee all set up. They also had a nice selection of magazines. I honestly couldn't decide which one to read first. I rarely read magazines. Its something reserved for doctor's and dentist's waiting rooms.

So, there I sat, reading my magazine, sipping my coffee, and actually had a pleasant break from daily work. 30 minutes later, they were done. We had driven over a screw. They popped it out and patched the tire. And they did all this for FREE -- my favorite price! So, I had a nice break, read a magazine, drank a cup of coffee and got my tire fixed, and none of it cost me a single penny.

Have you taken care of some nagging task lately? Didn't it feel great to just get it done and over with?

How do you decide if something is a tool or a toy?

When someone feels guilt over buying something a bit expensive for the house, they sometimes try to justify it to others by saying its an investment, or a tool. When you're buying something new for your house, do you ever have a moment of anguish over whether or not this purchase is worthwhile? Do you ever think to yourself, "maybe this is just a new toy"? And how do you decide if it's a toy or a tool?

I used to feel guilty about buying just about anything that would help me to get my work done. That is, until I came to what, for me, is a brilliant conclusion -- a worthwhile tool is something that helps me with my work, so that I can get on with even more productive activities, and thereby increase my productivity.

My new mixer is pretty, but that doesn't mean that it's just a toy. It's a tool that helps me to mix and knead the week's bread dough, with about 5 minutes of hands-on time. When I was mixing and kneading the bread dough by hand, I was spending up to 1 hour mixing and kneading the dough each week. Now, I am able to move on to the next productive task in minutes, instead of an hour. And because the mixer makes this work so easy, I am less likely to procrastinate.



An argument for "toy" or "tool" could be made for most items in our houses, depending on how you use it, and what it allows you to do sooner, and with more energy.

You and I surely would agree that a hammer is indeed a tool. But there's probably someone out there who would say, "what do you need a hammer for? When you can pound a nail in just as well with a rock from your yard?" Okay, so maybe that's an exaggeration, but what about this example:

How about a clothes dryer? Is that a tool or a toy. In my mind, a dryer couldn't possibly be a toy. I don't wake up in the morning eager to find something I can toss into my dryer. Yet, on another frugal living blog, the blogger was criticized for no longer hanging her laundry to dry. She was accused of being unfrugal, as if using her dryer was somehow akin to having a toy.

Yes, in the perfect frugal world, we would all hang our laundry to dry. And there would be no nasties like pollen, rain, birds, time or human energy. We'd probably also all be merrily jogging down to the creek to pound our clothes against a rock, on laundry day.

Fortunately, we do have the option of machines to do some of our work for us.

For the frugal living blogger, mentioned above, using her dryer is actually a very productive use of her possessions and time. By doing so, she can more quickly move on to other frugal activities, and increase her productivity. This is where something becomes a tool in my mind, when it can enable us to move more quickly on to other productive work.

I sometimes do like to hang my laundry. I enjoy it when I have time for a "slow" activity. And I can just enjoy the slowness of it all. But most of the time, it's much more efficient for me to toss everything into the dryer, so that I can move on to gardening, cooking from scratch, earning a small income, mending clothing, repairing furniture, etc.

You could drive around in the ungliest thing sold as a car. And because it was uber-cheap, you might consider yourself more frugal than others.. But I don't think that's the only thing you could be driving and still call yourself frugal.  I think frugal means buying what fits your needs, purpose and size, in addition to affordability. Clearly, a single woman who hauls around nothing more than her purse, on decent roads, in good weather, doesn't really need a 13-passenger van. But a very large family very well may. Most of us are driving around in "tools", something to get ourselves from point A to point B. And you know, I think it's okay if you choose the pretty "tool", with a nice color, shape and overall design.

A lawn mower is definitely a tool. In our house, no one starts the weekend with a shout, "yay! It's Saturday! I get to mow the lawn!" Ours is an electric mower. You may think, "why not a human-powered push reel mower?" Well, our electric mower means that anyone in our family can do the mowing. We did have a push reel mower, but only the men were strong enough to use it. Our yard is just large enough to need some assistance with the mowing, but not so large to need a riding mower. So our electric mower is a reasonable tool for the job. And yes, we still call ourselves frugal. We bought the mower that was the right size and power for our needs. (And we got a deal on it through a county "green" promotion!)

With my recent stand mixer purchase, I was really tempted by the commercial model at twice the price. I was even more tempted by the Hobart mixers. But really, unless and until, I start up that candy shop or bakery, those mixers are overkill. The right tool is the mixer that suits my needs and purposes, which I believe is the one I chose.

So, a tool is something that helps you to be more productive in your work hours. A clothes dryer certainly fits that description, as does a reasonable car, a stand mixer and yes, a hammer.

And what about toys? If you have toys, can you still call yourself frugal? In my book, someone who has no toys isn't frugal, they're deprived.


What is a toy?

A toy is something designed to bring joy and/or recreation to the lives of those who use it, which may or may not have any productivity value.

A game is a toy, there's great enjoyment in playing a game. Musical equipment may be viewed as a toy (if it's just for your pleasure) or a tool (if you make a living using it).  A surfboard is a toy. For the woman who just likes to polish the shiny things on her kitchen counter, and never really use them, well, a stand mixer is probably just a toy.

And toys are good! Without them, life would be dull, and we would soon wear ourselves out from lack of recreation. Some of our favorite toys include a piano, a TV, a radio in the kitchen, many computers, games and puzzles, and an outdoor fire bowl.

I don't think for a single second that anyone here has been critical of my choices (at least not out loud!). But I do think it's important for us all to understand what it means to ourselves to be frugal, and just what is a toy vs. a tool. We need to appreciate that toys are desirable too. I think understanding this will a) give us all more freedom to make our choices without guilt, and b) spot the lunatics on other blogs who criticize frugal living bloggers for the choices they make.

So tell me, what was the last "tool" you bought? Did you feel any guilt buying it? How did you get over that guilt?

What are your times to treasure this summer?

With this being Victoria Day weekend in Canada, and next weekend being Memorial Day for the US, it feels like the unofficial start to summer is upon us.

Now, while my children are still near to my husband and I (so near I can holler up the stairs to reach them), I want to squeeze every precious moment out of our time. So, as the chief social director of this family, I've been thinking about how I want us to spend our time. Obviously, my grown kids will have their own ideas. But if I get my way, here are some of the times I want to treasure this summer:

     1.  Start up our long walks again. Summer Saturday mornings are perfect for us to walk either down to the beach or up to the market and coffee house.

     2.  Dinner of fish and chips on the beach. There's a walk-up window for Ivar's (fish and chips place) down at the beach. At least once each summer we go "out" for dinner. We take our fish and chips over to the shoreline and sit on one of the logs just feet from the lapping waves, while we dine al fresco.

     3.  Saturday evenings around the campfire making s'mores. A little more difficult to do as a family, now that my son is busy most Saturday evenings. But maybe he'll squeeze us into his busy calendar once or twice. In any case, we build a fire, roast hot dogs and make s'mores. Then we wait, and listen to the birds' last song, and look for bats. Some years are bat-ier than others. They're interesting to watch fly around.

                                                                                          
     4.  Have some friends over for an evening of games and dinner.

     5.  Make ice cream and sorbet at home. And for my daughters -- make slurpies at home! That got a +1 from both of them. Just an FYI, every summer on July 11 (7-11), the store 7-11 gives away free, small slurpies. Just keep that in the back of your mind. I usually check online near to that date, to see if the promotion is a "go" again this year.

     6.  Visit the lavender festival in July. This may be a girls-only excursion. I could be hard-pressed to interest the men in the family to go traipse through fields of lavender. But it's been on my list for several summers, and I couldn't get away. Sometimes the girls just gotta have fun, right?

     7.  There's an annual art festival in the downtown area of my town. We've missed it the last 3 years, due to scheduled dance performances of my daughters. But this year, the performances have been moved up one week! Woohoo! A fun Sunday afternoon for the family (not that the dance performances weren't fun -- back peddling, back peddling -- but we get to attend both activities. Whew, saved that one!).

     8.  Which brings me to this, lately our Sunday afternoons have been filled with yard and housework. For this summer, I'd like us to have more time for recreation and relaxation on Sunday afternoons. A nap on the chaise on a lazy Sunday afternoon, or a good book in the shade of the plum tree, or just a long lunch on the grass, will all fit the bill.

     9.  Some cheap backyard fun is also planned. We'll have our croquet tourney, play horse shoes, throw the frisbee, and get out the small ping pong table.

     10.  And finally, a family vacation. And yay! The whole family will be going. We're driving down the coast to California for a week. The 5 of us, stuffed into our small-ish sedan -- this should be interesting! It's a good two days drive to So. Cal. Are we there yet?

You'll notice, this isn't a list of projects to accomplish. There will be time for those, too. These are togetherness, "ya love me don'tcha?"  times to make memories to hold for my rocking chair days.

Do you have any times to treasure on your list for this summer? Please share.