Homemade fruit and nut breakfast or snack bars

So, you know I've been making healthy snack-y items for my family to take with them in the mornings, with special thought to my 2 daughters working housekeeping jobs this summer. Here's another recipe I've made this past week. It's another one of those recipes that has been around for a while.

This is a no-sugar added recipe, which can be varied by types of dried fruit and nuts, and added spices. They get their sweetness completely from dried fruit. More like a healthier cookie, as opposed to a healthier candy bar. We use these as breakfast bars. I wrap them, to-go, in a simple wrap of waxed paper, secured by string, rubber bands or stickers.

These cake-like fruit and nut bars are nutrient-dense, rich in fiber, minerals and anti-oxidants, and are made with all natural ingredients. They also have a fair amount of protein (compared to a commercial granola bar), about 3.5 grams, from the eggs and nuts. Paired with a container of homemade yogurt, this is a substantial breakfast, even for my kids who are working physical jobs this summer. Myself, one of these with my morning coffee is all I need.

I cut the pan of bars into 12 pieces, each having about 200 calories. The pan could also be cut into 24 pieces, for a healthy, after-school/activity snack of about 100 calories each.

So, here's the recipe:

Fruit and Nut Breakfast Bars

ingredients
1/2 cup chopped, pitted prunes (measure after chopping)
1/2 cup chopped, pitted dates (measure after chopping)
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of butter
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans are favorites -- I've used unsalted, dry-roasted almonds, here, measured after chopping)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup all-purpose flour


In a small saucepan, bring water and dried fruits to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add butter. Allow to cool, and butter to melt thoroughly.

Butter an 8 X 11-inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, combine eggs, vanilla, salt and nuts. Stir in cooled fruit and butter mixture. Mix in flour and baking soda. Spread evenly in prepared baking dish.

Bake at 325, for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden all over, and top is springy.  Allow to cool completely in the pan before cutting and removing.

Wrap individual bars in waxed paper or parchment paper, for easy grab and go breakfasts. Store in covered tin or plastic container, in the fridge for up to a week.

This basic recipe can be mixed up by using dried apple slices, chopped, raisins and dates, plus walnuts and a pinch of cinnamon, for a autumnal breakfast bar. Or, chopped dried apricots, dates and dried cherries, plus pecans. Or, a dried berry medley of blueberries, cranberries, cherries, and blackberries, with chopped almonds. Most of the time, I think the flavor is most appealing if some dates are used, as date sugar probably tastes most like cane sugar to me. Just make sure the amounts of dried fruits equal about 1  1/2 cups.

You can also dress these bars up with a drizzle or dip of melted white chocolate (really good on the apricot/cherry/date/pecan bar), or a drizzle of icing and sprinkle of cinnamon (especially yummy on an apple/date/raisin/cinnamon and walnut bar).

Cheap & Cheerful suppers for the week

Thursday (this was one of the hot days, here. A cold dinner was much appreciated)
Pesto pasta salad -- cooked rotini pasta, garbanzo beans, cooked chicken, olives, canned diced tomatoes, pesto dressing, topped with dollops of pesto, served on lettuce
rhubarb crisp

Friday (not so cheap -- about $6 or $7 for all 5 of us -- but far cheaper than the usual $25-30 at Ivar's fast food fish bar)
fish and chips
carrot-raisin-peanut salad

Saturday (cloudy day, was great for pie-baking, and it cheered us all up, as my son left for out of town for a week, this morning)
leftover carrot-raisin-peanut salad
Swiss chard and garlic frittata
rice cooked in chicken broth
blackberry-rhubarb pie

Sunday (I had leftover refried beans to use up, which became the base for the soup. It was thick and hearty)
chicken-chili soup
bread and butter
leftover blackberry-rhubarb pie

Monday (It looks like it should be a good year for the beets, and we all enjoy them cooked and added to salads)
chicken-noodle soup
grilled cheese sandwiches
leafy green salad with julienned beet and cucumber (all from the garden)
fresh raspberries

Tuesday (this year's rhubarb, but plums from the freezer from 2 years ago, still fine!)
Tex-Mex black beans and rice, with 1 hamburger patty, cooked and crumbled into the skillet
topped with cheddar, diced, canned tomatoes and olives
rhubarb-plum crumble with whipped cream

Wednesday
linguine and meatballs in marinara (with the beet greens added, from the beet added to the salad)
leafy green salad with julienned beet, cooked garbanzo beans and cucumber
leftover rhubarb-plum crumble



I am trying to clean out the freezer a bit, to make room for summer produce surplus. It's tight in there right now. This week, I found some canned tomatoes, canned tomato paste, chopped plums, blackberries, marinara sauce and sliced, sharp cheddar cheese in the freezer, needing using up.

One of my daughters asked me yesterday evening, if foods ever go "bad" in the freezer. As far as I know, if the temp of the freezer is kept at 0 F degrees, food doesn't really spoil, but loses quality of texture and taste. The frozen plums in the crumble this week were from 2 summers ago. Mostly, the container just had a lost of frost inside. Have you ever heard of food actually spoiling in the freezer (if kept at 0 F)?

3 in 1 mint plants

I've been tidying up one spot in the yard this summer. My progress has been slooooooow. But yesterday I tackled one more little area -- the potted mints. I have pineapple mint, spearmint and peppermint.

I like to keep my mint plants in pots. In the past, I've sunk terra cotta pots into the ground, holding individual plants. They do a good job of corralling the mints, while keeping the roots well-watered. However, as you can see, the pots fall apart after a while, in our climate. And it just doesn't look so nice after a full season or two.

So, time to see what I can do with this area.

I bought a larger pot, one of those all-weather, concrete-looking pots. In it, I placed 3 tall-ish plastic pots (they look like 1-gallons).

I filled the outer pot with plenty of soil, then moved the mint plants into each of these smaller inside pots. I did have to root-prune one of the plants, and cut the whole thing in half, as it wouldn't likely do well, simply transplanted. But I do like how this project turned out.

In summer, I grow the mint in the shade of a blueberry bush. Our yard can really bake. But now I have the option to bring the mint plants up to the deck come fall, which I might find quite handy.

When we first moved into this house, the previous owners had mint growing in the front garden, only it was allowed to "roam". I spent the better part of every morning, for one entire summer, eradicating that mint from the yard. My aim is to never go through that, again!

I made the fried fish last Friday -- first time for me, making fried fish!

not pretty, but sure was tasty!

And I was surprised by how delicious it turned out. I am not a fish lover, by the way. It's the rest of my family that loves fish. So, for me to say that this turned out delicious, that is pretty amazing. I kept eating waiting for that bite which would say to me, "yeah, this is why I don't like fish". But that never happened. It does make me wonder about the handling of fish in our local fish fast food joints, as it always tastes very fishy to me, at places like Ivar's.

This was my first attempt at making battered-dipped, fried fish. I went with a basic flour/vinegar/baking soda/salt/water batter. The recipe called for baking powder, but what I had was a combo of vinegar and baking soda. And although the recipe didn't mention dredging the fish in flour, before the batter, I did anyways, as that's how I fry most battered foods, to help the batter adhere better.

As usual when frying, I made a huge oily mess in the kitchen. I can't seem to fry without getting oil all over the place. I went through a couple of paper bags, as draining paper. And even with a lot of draining of oil, I put the fish in the oven to "hold" while frying the potatoes. There was still more oil in the pan that held the cooked fish. So, I drained on more paper, when I took that fish out of the low-temp oven.

With the leftover oil, it was about 1 cup, I put it into a plastic container and have it in the freezer for our next fish fry of the summer. I'll add some fresh oil to it, and use a blend of old and new oil. This will be the reserved "fish oil", only for cooking fish, as it likely picked up strong odors and flavors.

The box of cod fillets that I bought at Cash & Carry contains enough fillets for 4 nights of fish dinners for the summer. That should satisfy the fish lovers in my family!

Sometimes "free shipping" isn't the best deal, (and I have to remind myself of that)

I sometimes fall into the trap of thinking along these lines -- "woo hoo! free shipping! That must be a good deal!" Then I have to remind myself to do all of the calculations, to see if it really is the best deal.

You've probably seen this on Amazon: you can buy the same product in different amounts and from different sellers, and at different price points, some with minimal shipping costs, some with hefty shipping fees.

A supplement that I use can be bought 1 container at a time, under the "spend $35, and get free shipping" fulfilled by Amazon. Or, it can be bought in a 2-pack, from an authorized seller, for less per bottle, but with a small shipping charge. That shipping charge was a stumbling block for me, this past week. I kept thinking, "oooh I want to get that free shipping". However, overall, including shipping, it was cheaper per bottle than buying it, fulfilled by Amazon, with the free shipping bonus.

It took me most of the week to finally get it through my head that the second method would make the most dollars-and-cents sense. I was still able to take advantage of Amazon's free shipping, but on a different order, altogether.

And another reminder for myself (and maybe you, too), the biggest package is not always the cheapest. When looking at buying unflavored gelatin in food service containers, it was cheapest per unit to buy gelatin 2 containers at a time, and not 3 or 4 at a time.

I also discovered this to be true when ordering replacement filters for our refrigerator. Buying a 3-pack was less expensive per filter than a 6-pack. Go figure! But I'm glad to not have to commit to (and store) more than a 3-pack for the time being.

Gotta remind myself to always do the math!

Secrets to successful frugality

Okay, these are not really secrets. Just the things, motivations and philosophies that make frugality work for us.

This came up in comments last week:

We are easily amused. 
Really. I sat in the backyard one afternoon last week, watching the deer as he watched me. Really, that's all the two of us did for about an hour. That was my afternoon entertainment and then I went back to work. On a summer evening, we'll sit around the campfire, listening to the birds' last song, and wait for the bats to come out. Yep! We'd rather do this than go out to the movies, go to a concert, mall-stroll or many other money-sucking activities.

We're not entrenched in our habits, likes and dislikes. 
We're flexible. I realize that we all have one or two items or brands that are favorites. Mayo seems to be a biggie for some people. My family likes California vacations. But overall, we can be happy trying out different brands of products/types of excursions, and don't expect every plate of spaghetti to taste like the last. If gas is cheaper down the street this week, that's where I'm buying it. When our favorite outing/expenditure becomes too expensive, we find something new to try.

We are clever, creative and resourceful people. 
Creativity goes way beyond art and music. Creativity is about using our minds to see something new and fresh in the mundane. This can be finding a new approach to an old problem. Or tweaking a recipe to suit the ingredients you have in your kitchen. Or finding a new source for items you need at significantly reduced cost. It takes zero creativity to wander into the local big box store and buy a needed tool at full price. Us creative folk think of alternate sources for that same tool. We put the word out, we watch freecycle and craigslist. We're the ones holding up traffic, as we slow down to eyeball what's being sold at a nearby garage sale. And in the meantime, while we're searching for this new tool, but at a super-duper price point, we find ways to get around even having that tool, item or service.

My daughter needs a new pair of work jeans for summer, but we haven't had time to check out SVdP on Sundays (99 cents all clothing at St Vincent de Paul in our neighborhood on Sundays). In the meantime, those same very-worn jeans have 3 different patches sewn into the inside, the  last patch being added the other night, (when she came home from work with a rather indecent hole in a place where you want more decency). It takes a minute of thought and a few minutes of resourcefulness to patch those jeans. I know quite a few people who would have seen this as a shopping emergency, "quick, let's head out to the mall and buy you a new pair". I have a well-stocked thread box, with just about any color I could want, for any sewing project. I also have the lower pant legs, from cutting jeans off into shorts and capris, to use as patching scraps.

Our tumble dryer needs a replacement part in the door latch. The door latch doesn't hold the door all the way closed, and consequently, the little button, that when depressed tells the dryer it's safe to operate, doesn't get enough pressure to fully depress itself. Our temporary fix, a wad of duct tape, taped onto the button. That button (plus tape) now sticks out far enough that when the door is shut, the button is fully depressed, and the dryer operates. We'll eventually find a cheap latch for that dryer, but this is the in-the-meantime fix until that time.

We are willing to push the envelope. 
In fact, our envelopes have been pushed so far that they're off the desk entirely, and sitting in a heap on the floor next to the desk. Okay, so disposable coffee filters. Obviously they were intended to be a one-use item, right? I was wondering, a long while back, how many times could you use that same paper filter. What I discovered was that coffee is so acidic that it takes a while for mold to develop, a couple of weeks, even. Backing up that timeline a bit, to insure I'm not ingesting moldy coffee, I now use the same paper filter 3, 4 and 5 days in a row, depending on my mood. I scoop out the used coffee grounds, and replace with new ones, for each pot of coffee. I do this over and over, until I feel satisfied that I got my money's worth out of that one paper filter. How little dish detergent can I really use, before the dishes no longer come out clean? Another one of my little, "what if?" scenarios. For one week, each day, I put a little less detergent into the compartment, just to see what would happen with a bit less. I determined that for our dishwasher, water temperature and soil conditions, 1  1/2 level teaspoons is my minimum for cleanliness. I've done the same with laundry detergent. How little can I use and still have clean smelling laundry?

We don't rely on what convention (or a manufacturer) tells us is the right amount, but rely on our own observations of our own circumstances to determine what is most effective for least cost.

We have a clear idea of just how capable we humans are. 
We don't assume that just because we've never tried to do something before means that we won't be able to do it now. In fact, I'll take this further. We don't assume that just because we have FAILED before that we will fail once again. Who was it, Thomas Edison? Every attempt he tried at making lightbulbs which didn't pan out, weren't failures at all, but ways he figured out were how *not* to make lightbulbs. This one quote of his is a favorite of mine:

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."

Earlier this week, I finally fixed two handles/cranks to our casement windows in the kitchen. These handles have been broken for several years. I have made numerous attempts to fix them myself. Each time I attempted, I thought about what I did the last time, and why, maybe, that didn't work. This time, I tackled the repair from another angle. And with work, time, patience and physical strength, I did indeed fix them. I will point out that no one else in the family had even a clue as to how to fix them. It was through my own trial and error that I figured out the tack that I needed to take, in order to make this repair. My experience in home repairs is limited at best. But I do know to keep trying and studying what I have done, and what I might try next.

Once, when my kids were all small, I suggested we make our own Oreo cookies. One of my daughters responded, "can we do that?" My reply, "of course we can!" That was the beginning of our many discussions of how everything that is manufactured in a factory was at one time homemade, in someone's basement, kitchen, garage or tool shed. People make factories. People create items. We are people. We, too, can make many of these items that are bought pre-made. It just takes time, research, planning and sometimes extra practice. But most of the time, especially when it comes to food products, we can produce something close enough to a manufactured product to be satisfying for our needs and wants.

We think and plan for our futures.
Some people just think life will work out, and that there will always be someone to take care of them. In one of my circles, we often remind each other that "hope is not a plan". We are the ones who can see a child playing with a ball on the sidewalk, on a busy street, and see in our minds, that ball running loose into the street and just what a small child might do -- run after the ball. We can see this in our own minds before it happens. We can see the accident awaiting when one of our kids is holding the scissors incorrectly while walking through the house.

Many of us knew this would happen -- when the housing bubble collapsed in 2008. We knew this, or something very similar, would happen. We didn't know exactly when this would happen. But we knew it would be a huge gamble to have a large mortgage out on our house. Many people will tell you that a mortgage is the "good" kind of debt. you get to write off the interest and points on your income taxes, after all. Well, us frugal folks see this differently. We pay off our mortgages as quickly as we can, not because we think it's a good financial investment to do so, but because it gives us a secure roof over our heads, no matter what happens to our stream of income. There are 3 basics in life, which cost money -- food, clothing and housing. As future thinkers and planners, we forgo a few of the transient luxuries, of the present, for the more permanent comfort-basics of the future.

We use some sort of budget or planning to manage our income, with personal financial forecasting, looking to our future years. We have assumed our autonomy in taking care of ourselves, now and tomorrow. Hope is not our plan.

We're discerning.
We think through our expenditures. We weigh cost vs benefit. We give thought to how we can get the biggest bang for our buck. We research longevity of tools, equipment and automobiles. We buy mostly well-made, basic clothing, with limited money spent on cheap uber-trendy items. We know what brings us the most pleasure in this life, and we focus our discretionary spending in those areas. When we splurge, it's on something that has meaning to us. We opt for pieces of furniture which will last not just our lifetime, but that of our children, as well. We tend to think of this attitude to spending as "smart" rather than thrifty, because we are discerning individuals.

There are likely many more "secrets" to our success. But these are the ones that sprang to mind the other day.

Whether you are following a frugal path out of necessity, right now, or making plans for a comfortable retirement in years to come, take heart when you fly against common attitudes towards spending money. It really is "slow and steady wins the race".

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for the first week of July

Wednesday
bean burger patties, topped with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese
chicken, veggie, rice pilaf (I cooked brown rice in chicken stock that had small bits of chicken meat, and added garlic, carrots and onions in the last 20 minutes of cooking)
radish greens and onions, stir-fried in bacon fat
mini banana splits for dessert, with ice cream, banana halves, chocolate syrup, cherry preserves and chopped peanuts

Thursday
leftover rice pilaf, topped with meatballs and marinara sauce
garden greens salad
French bread
banana boats

Friday
baked chicken, topped with mock pesto
sauteed mustard and radish greens, with onion, in bacon fat
cream cheese and chive mashed potatoes
ice cream with fresh raspberries

Saturday (4th of July)
hamburgers
potato chips
leafy green salad
creamy rhubarb gelatin salad
s'mores

Sunday
fried corn tortillas
homemade refried beans topped with cheese
carrot sticks and 1000 Island dressing/dip
ice cream with homemade Magic Shell topping

Monday
kale-cheddar quiche
brown rice (cooked in chicken stock)
carrot-raisin-peanut salad
preserved figs (made last September with green figs)

Tuesday
bean patties with teriyaki glaze
fried rice with garden veggies (I had to add cooked, broken spaghetti bits to the leftover rice, to make enough fried rice for the entire family)
grilled canned pineapple rings

Wednesday
BBQ chicken sandwiches (using extra hamburger buns from 4th of July, cooked chicken legs, bottled BBQ sauce, mixed with canned tomato liquid and spices)
assorted homemade pickles and carrot sticks
leftover potato chips
sauteed swiss chard (in bacon fat)
rhubarb crisp

A cost comparison of homemade Peanut Butter Energy Balls and grocery store "energy" bars

I made these for my family this week, with my 2 daughters in mind, both working very physical jobs this summer, and one whose weight is lagging behind. I used to make these for my son when he was a small boy. He loved them! I made them a few times when my daughters were small, but for whatever reasons, I stopped making them.

Anyways . . .

I had been pricing "energy" products that would be easy for my daughters to grab on the way out the door in the mornings, things they could eat either as breakfast, or as a snack later in the AM.

You can buy cheapie granola bars for about 20 cents each. Or, those Kind, but not-so-kind-to-your-wallet, bars for over a buck each. I was specifically looking for a high quality, nutritious, protein-dense bar or product, so that puts me at the high end of the price spectrum, unfortunately.

That's when I pulled up a couple of old recipes from years' past. I priced out my ingredients, shopping 2 different stores (plus my pantry), to get the best price possible for my area. I found powdered milk at Fred Meyer (and with the Senior discount, to boot!), and honey and raisins at Cash & Carry. I had peanut butter and granola at home.

My complete cost to make 1 batch of 24 of these little energy balls (including ingredients I had at home) was $2.12. That works out to almost 9 cents per 110 calorie ball. Those cheapie granola bars have about 90 calories each, at 20 cents.

As I was specifically looking for protein, I also compared protein values between cheapie granola bars and my Peanut Butter Energy Balls. A small, 90 calorie granola bar contains 1 gram of protein. My homemade balls have 3.3 grams of protein each, over triple the store-bought item.

It's not entirely fair to compare Kind bars to peanut butter balls, as Kind bars are fruit and nut bars. However, stay tuned. I'll be pulling out my fruit and nut bar recipe next week, and give you the cost breakdown then. You just knew that was coming, didn't you?!

If you don't happen to have a Peanut Butter Energy Ball recipe, and would like to try mine, here it is:

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup dry milk powder*
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup raisins
something dry and flakey like wheat germ, grated coconut, cereal crumbs, or granola to roll bars in -- about 1/3 cup total

*if you are using instant powdered milk, you'll want to measure it, then run through a food processor to break down the tiny bits into a finer powder, before mixing with peanut butter. It doesn't need to be perfectly ground, just mostly so. Non-instant dry milk is a fine powder, mostly available in health food stores, and often used in baking (adding to doughs).

In a large bowl, stir together peanut butter, milk powder, honey and raisins. Divide "dough" into quarters, then each quarter into 6 portions (yielding 24 portions all together). Roll between the palms of your hands into balls. Then roll each into your dry and flakey stuff. Refrigerate.

Some people roll these in melted chocolate, for a healthier confection. Also yummy. But as I was looking for a snack replacement and not a candy-type item, I used homemade granola.

One of the aspects of making these products at home that I like is this -- if I buy a commercial product, once that box is empty, they're gone. But if I buy the ingredients to make something comparable, once the final item is eaten, I can turn to my pantry and make another batch. Or, and also appealing, I can use those same ingredients in other recipes.

Growing basil on the deck

For many years, I tried growing basil in the garden. Our soil seemed to be too cool in the early summer months for the plants to really take hold and flourish. Then a friend mentioned that she had read basil often does better in pots in a sunny location, if kept well-watered.

So, for the past 4 or 5 years, I've been growing my basil in a large trough-style planter on our deck. And it grows so much better for me now.

Some of the things that I believe is helping my basil perform:

• I begin with seeds, sown in flats, indoors, in late March/early April. Basil is a slow grower in the early part of the season, here, and needs plenty of time to gain size, before planting out to the trough.
• My trough planter is about 18 inches deep, allowing for plenty of soil to hold hold water for these tender plants.
• The trough is situated in what I believe is the best place on our deck. It's NOT up against the house, where it would bake all day long, but up against a side railing to the deck. The railing itself gives some stippled sun/shade in the early part of the day, and full sun from noon until 4-5 PM or so. But being a "porous" edging to the deck, there's lots of air circulation around the plants.
• I planted out the basil seedlings in phases, as a just in case measure -- just in case there were lurking slugs in the trough (which I could bait for early on), just in case we had a late frost, just in case the soil was still too cool. I planted out the seedlings over the course of about 3 weeks, when the daytime temps were consistently mid-60s or higher during the day (May).
• I planted the seedlings, thickly, about 3-4 inches apart in all directions. This is closer than many experts suggest, but it works for me.
• During the dry part of the season, I shower the trough with water at least once per day, on very hot days, twice.
• And this step is important for a full, lush bed basil -- when the plants have about 3-4 sets of leaf pairs, I pinch off the top growth for kitchen use. Pinching off new growth encourage bushiness in the plants. I have enough plants in my trough this year that I can pinch plants every 3 days, enough for a constant supply of homemade pesto.
• Before planting out my seedlings, I mixed some new soil into the planter. This new soil had some fertilizers added, which gave the basil a good start.
• Basil is a heavy-feeder, and does well with a liquid feed. I prefer using compost tea, sprayed over the top of the plants, every couple of weeks, from early July on.

I hope to be able to cut and freeze a significant amount of basil later this summer, to use in winter. Frozen basil retains more flavor and nutrients than dried basil. And I think it's just plain easier to freeze it.



Growing basil from seeds costs about a dollar or two, for seeds and potting soil. A small basil seedling at the nursery will cost about $2. Buying basil as a good-sized potted plant will cost about $5-7 or so. Buying basil as a fresh herb in the produce department of your supermarket will cost $2 or $3, for basil that will keep in your fridge for about a week.

There isn't one right way to have fresh basil for everyone's uses. If you will only want fresh basil for a few occasions in the summer, then the fresh basil in the produce department might be the way to go, for you. After you've used the leaves that you needed for a particular recipe, chop and freeze the remaining leaves to have on hand for a couple more recipes this summer.

It's not too late to buy a small seedling from the nursery. If you get it potted up now, you will have enough basil for several batches of pesto, or adding to dishes in August and September.

If you are needing much more basil than what you would buy in the produce department, and want your basil NOW, you could buy a larger potted basil plant from a store like Trader Joe's. These pots are actually about 7 or 8 basil pants, potted together in 1 container. You would have some for pinching off now, and more to come in about a week, continuing through summer. For best results, when you get one of these larger pots of basil home, pot it up into an even larger pot, for additional root room and soil to hold moisture. Then, water it often, pinch back weekly, and give it a boost of liquid plant food every couple of weeks. Your pot of basil will do well, and provide all of your basil needs for this season, and then some for freezing.

It may be a bit late to start a large trough of basil from seeds, now. Unless you live where first frost doesn't occur until November. But you could plant up a pot of basil seeds now, to bring into your house to continue giving you fresh basil leaves through early December. In past years, I've started basil seeds in a small pot in mid-July, to bring indoors in fall. These plants generally lose their oomph by early December and decline in new leaf production, but it is fun to have a small pot of basil growing on the window sill when the days are shortening.

Banana boats

Do you remember these? Maybe from a Girl Scout camping trip, or at home sitting around a backyard campfire?

We made banana boats a lot when I was growing up. It was a reasonably "healthy" dessert, for this sweets-lover.

Banana, marshmallow and chocolate. There was always more banana than anything else. But that was a good thing. Cooking the banana brought out its sweetness.

Last week, my son brought several bananas home from work (they provide snacks at his office -- I mentioned this on my facebook page). Anyway, I baked banana bread, we made banana splits, and then on Thursday, I made banana boats for the family. This is one of those banana items that does well with older bananas.

I just used half a banana, each. I slit the halves and stuffed with a marshmallow (cut in half), and a chocolate candy (cut into bits).  Then baked these in the toaster oven, just after while we ate dinner. My mom used to wrap these in foil and cook over a campfire, in the coals.

My son tells me that a new batch of bananas will be brought in early this week . . .which means, those older bananas will be given away, again. Don't know if we'll be the lucky recipients, but more banana boats would be fun!

I sometimes wonder what life is like in other people's homes

And I know that you sometimes wonder how I do things, just out of curiosity, even if you have no intention of doing some of the things that I do in my home. I think that is just normal curiosity.

So, I thought I'd share one of the "hows" to what I do in the kitchen.

In the comments section, one day, someone asked how I decant mayonnaise from the large jars.

I've only bought 1-gallon jars of mayonnaise three times now. But these large jars are often the most economical-per-unit size of mayonnaise. A 1-gallon jar will last our family about 5 to 6 months. The quality remains good for us, for that entire time.

But the large size could be prone to spoilage and/or bacterial contamination, if not handled properly. For these three jars, this is how I've made it work for us.

So, commercial mayonnaise is fairly high in acid (vinegar and lemon juice). This combined with the salt content, makes an unfavorable environment for bacterial growth (http://www.wvagriculture.org/images/Literature/Mayo%20brochure.pdf).

Age-related spoilage of the product is not my primary concern. According to several sites, commercial mayonnaise can keep for up to 6 months, refrigerated, once opened. With this in mind, my aim is to reduce the chance of premature spoilage.

The biggest enemy to commercial mayonnaise is contamination from other sources, such as unclean hands or utensils. I avoid cross-contamination through some common sense practices, such as washing hands when cooking, and always dipping a clean utensil into the mayo jar.

So, to minimize any food-borne illness risk, I decant 1 cup of mayo at a time, from my 1-gallon jar. I use a freshly-sanitized *, 1/2-pint jar and large spoon, each time I decant another portion. 1/2 pint of mayo lasts our family not quite 2 weeks. By using such a small jar at a time, we reduce the risk of losing product due to spoilage, from contamination. (*I sanitize jars either in the dishwasher on the high-temp setting, or in a pot of water on the stove, as I'm sterilizing jars for homemade yogurt or preserves.)

To keep the 1-gallon jar in its best condition possible after opening, we store it in the kitchen refrigerator (as opposed to the garage one) where the temperature control is digital and very accurate.

And I use a sheet of plastic wrap, over the top of the jar, under the cap, to minimize air infiltration, from a poor-fitting lid. After decanting a portion, I scrape down the insides, then lay the piece of plastic wrap over the jar opening, before screwing the cap back on.

We do commercial mustard in a similar fashion. I buy it in 1-gallon jars, and decant small amounts at a time. Because mustard is very high in acid (vinegar), I decant into newly sanitized, 1-pint jars (instead of 1/2 pints), 3 jars at a time, so that it's easy for someone to grab a fresh jar as needed.

So, that's how I deal with those 1-gallon jars of condiments, that you read about in my grocery spending journal from time to time.

Wanting to go out for ice cream one hot evening . . .

If the 5 of us went to Menchie's (self-serve frozen yogurt), we would spend about $35. Yikes! That's a whole lotta cash for a bowl of frozen yogurt, each.


Every month, we set aside a small amount (I mean small, about $5-10 depending on what's leftover after the budget is made out), for doing fun things with the family. We don't always use this money, so it builds for a couple of months. But we try to use this money wisely.

We could save for several months, and go to the movies. Or, we could spend $1 and rent a recent release from Redbox. Or, what we most often do, we can hang on to the money and borrow dvds from the library.

We could save for many months, and go out for dinner. Or, we could save for one or two months and get fast food for 1 night. Or, we could buy some special foods to have at home or take to the beach, for a nice dinner or special treat, with far less expense.

In June and July, we made plans to use some of this "family-fun" money to enjoy time together, with special treats.

Last Saturday, my daughters came with me on an errand in the AM, and we were talking about how it would be the perfect day to go to Menchie's as a family. It had been hot for a few days, and Saturday's forecasted high was to be the hottest day of the week. So, a bowl of frozen yogurt or ice cream sounded especially appealing.

We talked about our various options. We could all go to McDonalds after dinner for their sundaes, at a cost of about $6, total. Okay, but as it's ice cream made with milk, it wouldn't be the best for me. Then we talked about Menchie's. A better option for me, as I can get non-dairy fro-yo there. And everyone gets to customize their own dessert. But at a price of about $6 or $7 each, for a whopping $35 for 5 of us. That's when the thought of going to Fred Meyer and picking out ice cream (and sorbet for me), plus toppings was thrown about.

The more we discussed this, the better a home sundae bar sounded. We talked about a price limit on how much we should spend, out of our "family-fun" savings. $15 sounded about right, for a special treat for 5 people.

So, after a lot of walking about the store, checking out our options, we chose some slivered almonds, from the bulk bins, a few gummy worms and chocolate caramel peanut clusters from the Brach's bulk bins, a snack-size package of Pepperidge Farms Mini-Chessmen shortbread cookies, a bag of dark chocolate-covered pretzels, a bottle of dark chocolate Magic Shell (chocolate sauce that hardens on the ice cream, something my kids had once at a cousin's house but never since), and a 1-gallon pail of Neapolitan ice cream, (plus that pint of raspberry sorbet for me). At home, I had strawberries, raspberries and blueberries in the garden to add to our sundae bar. In total, we spent $11.39. And, we had enough of all of the supplies to have sundaes both Saturday and Sunday after dinner. Plus, there's half a pail of ice cream and almost half a pint of sorbet remaining for future family-fun nights. None of this had to come out of the regular grocery budget.

Later this month, our family will be doing our annual fish and chips, beach-front dinner. We do this once per summer, and have a fun fish dinner together, at the beach. Waterfront dining at it's best!

In previous years, we bought our fish and chips from the Ivar's seafood bar at the beach (the beach which now charges for parking). We had been talking about going to a different Ivar's and bringing our fish and chips to one of the free-parking beaches in the area.

As good fortune would have it, frozen cod fillets are on sale at Cash & Carry this week, for about $18 for a 5-lb box of 2-oz fillets (a good size for fried fish strips). In previous years, we have spent about $30 on fish and chips for the whole family at Ivar's. A 5-lb box of cod fillets is enough fish for the 5 of us, for 4 nights of fish and chips, at a cost of $4.50 for a family dinner of the fish. Add in the batter and oil for frying and some potatoes for chips, and we're up to about $6 for our annual fish and chips at the beach dinner. I'll make the fish and chips at home just before we leave, then take the dinner to the nearest beach (5 minutes away).

I know that we could have fun without any expense. But sometimes, a little expense is worth it. And this is a way that fits within our budget -- and that makes me happy! (And the treats made my family very happy!!)

Cheap & Cheerful suppers for the last few days of June

As it's been the last week of the month, you can guess that we are down to the produce in my garden, some very old looking bananas, canned tomatoes, and a large bag of carrots. Which means, I've had to be somewhat inventive with meals. I'm also cleaning out the freezers, trying to make room for ground beef-10 lbs and fish-5 lbs (on sale this week at Cash & Carry). Chicken leg quarters on on sale again for 50 cents/lb. I'm on the fence as to whether or not to pick up another 40-lb case. But I can't buy any of those meats if there's not room to store them.

So here's what we had for dinner this past week:

Wednesday
chicken smothered in mock pesto (basil, garlic, olive oil, salt and black pepper, a mix of provolone and mozzarella -- no Parmesan, here, and no nuts)
rice topped with marinara sauce
fresh cherries
banana bread

Thursday
refried bean tostadas w/ lettuce, cheese, quickie salsa, plain yogurt, fried corn tortillas
fresh cherries

Friday
ham and cheese sandwiches, with mock pesto as condiment (it was a hot day, and didn't want to heat the kitchen)
fresh cherries
greens topped with oven-roasted tomatoes

Saturday
pbj sandwiches
spinach salad
cherries
ice cream sundaes

Sunday
chicken, tomato, radish greens, cheese and pasta stove-top casserole
more ice cream

Monday
potato salad (using up leftover egg salad from last week)
marinated garbanzo beans and roasted tomatoes over lettuce
herbed rice "polenta", topped with quickie marinara sauce

Tuesday
radish greens, swiss chard and cheddar quiche
cream cheese and chive mashed potatoes
lettuce topped with leftover garbanzo bean-roasted tomato salad
blueberries and raspberries for dessert


What's been on your menu this last week of June? Do you find that you run out of any particular ingredients during that last week of the month?

June 2015 Grocery Spending Journal

Oh, how very sad. For the month of June, I have just $145.32 in grocery money. I've got to get myself together for this. I can, and I will!

June 1. Dollar Tree for peanut butter (2) and soy milk (1). Spent $3

Cash & Carry for 40 lbs of chicken leg quarters, $19.99. Chicken legs are not my favorite, but at just under 50 cents per pound, I'll find ways to make them taste delicious. With all of this information about chicken/turkey and egg prices rising, I thought buying 40 lbs of chicken might be a good idea for right now.

The chicken quarters were packaged in 4 10-lb bags. Not horrible (could have been one solid block of frozen chicken), not as easy to deal with as IQF chicken pieces. But I'll figure something out. Meanwhile, we now have a very good supply of meat, here. 40 lbs of chicken, 10 lbs of ground beef, 1 whole turkey and 2 hams.

I've been thinking about our milk supply. I can get milk with a senior discount, one Tuesday per month, at an okay price ($2.51/gallon). Some months, milk is also on sale, so I can buy it for even less, as this month, it was $1.78/gallon, but limit of 3 gallons. I have figured that we go through about 9 or 10 gallons of milk per month, including the milk I use for making yogurt twice per month. So, my new fill-to amount, for the first week of the month is 10 gallons. That amount will get us through till the next senior discount day, when I can purchase more at an "okay" to "good" price.

June 1. QFC -- right next to the bank, so I run in and buy some milk, 4 half-gallons whole milk at 99 cents each (on sale, limit 4), and 2 gallons whole milk, on markdown ($1.98 each), 2 gallons skim milk on markdown ($1.99 each). Spent $11.90. When I have a choice, I buy whole milk, as I can use it either for family drinking or for making yogurt.

June 2. Senior Day at Fred Meyer. I use my discount to buy 6 half-gallons of whole milk (89 cents each), 1 packet of lettuce seeds for 96 cents, 4 16-oz bags of marshmallows for $1.35 each, 2 48-oz cans of shortening (for pie crusts), for $4.04 each, 1 large can of decaf coffee for $6.29, and 3 dozen eggs that were repackaged for $1.07 each dozen, plus I found 5 gallons of 2% milk on markdown for $2.00 each. I spent $39.28.

Month-to-date spent $74.17

June 7. The ethnic market, Imran's, for produce and corn tortillas. Bought 16 Red Delicious apples (39 cents/lb), 6 orange sweet bell peppers (25 cents each), 8 bananas (49 cents/lb), 1 head of green cabbage (49 cents/lb) ad 1 72-ct package of corn tortillas ($2.29). Spent $9.83. I figure I can afford to stop here one more time this month to pick up produce (and spend $10 again), and will otherwise use what's in the garden for the rest of our fruits and vegetables. The rest of the grocery budget is earmarked for other items.

Month-to-date spent $84.00

June 11. Cash & Carry for 4 64-oz jars of chunky peanut butter (it makes the best peanut butter cookies, IMO), $4.99 each. 1 5-lb bag of frozen cut corn ($3.49), 1 50-lb bag of pinto beans ($18.99). Spent $42.44 (I almost missed the pinto beans, entirely! They were in a separate ad, not the usual Hot Sheet, And when I was in the store getting the peanut butter, I walked right past them the first time. It wasn't until I pulled my cart into the checkout line that I spied them on an end cap. Pintos have been on my "buy" list for a few months, as they can be half the price of many other varieties of beans that I buy. So, thankful to see them this time!)

Month to date spent $126.44

We're doing okay, even thought I'm close to my budget limit, and it's only the 11th. Our freezer is so full, right now, that I am not wanting to bring anything more home that needs to be frozen. That will be a help, for me. And we're not needing too much in staples, either. So all's good for now. Hoping none of the stores have any spectacular deals in the next couple of weeks, so I won't be tempted to overspend.

June 17. Trader Joe's for 12 bananas, at 19cents each. Spent $2.28

Cash & Carry for 25-lb bag of carrots, at $7.98 and 1 29-oz can of coffee for $5.88. Spent $13.86

Total spent month to date -- $142.58

June 22. Fred Meyer for 4 half-gallons of whole milk (99cents each) and 1 pint of heavy whipping cream ($2.69) The whipping cream is for my one daughter who struggles with an eating disorder. I've been bumping up the calories that she consumes, to help her get her weight back up. Spent $6.65.

I'm done shopping for the month of June. I spent $149.23, over $3.91. Not bad! Not bad at all!

So for this month, I bought:

meat
40 lbs chicken leg quarters

pantry
20 oz. creamy peanut butter
16 lbs chunky peanut butter
1 quart soy milk
4 16-oz bags marshmallows
1 large can decaf coffee
1 large can regular coffee
6 lbs shortening (Crisco)
50 lbs dried pinto beans

dairy
9 gallons whole milk
2 gallons skim milk
5 gallons 2% milk
1 pint heavy whipping cream

refrigerator
3 dozen eggs
72-ct corn tortillas

fruits and vegetables
packet lettuce seeds
16 Red Delicious apples
6 orange bell peppers
20 bananas (plus we received 8 additional bananas, free, from my son's office)
1 head cabbage
5 lbs frozen cut corn
25 lbs carrots


I've been reworking our overall budget this past week. While inflation has affected nearly every category of our budget, food inflation has had the most significant impact. I've decided to take $10 per month out of another category and transfer that amount to groceries. For July (and forward) we'll have $185 for groceries. I'll see if this increase will ease up some of the stress of planning meals and shopping, for me.

A cold supper for a hot day

I don't know about you, but we're not even out of June, yet, and the heat is a problem for me. Fortunately, I baked 4 loaves of bread last week, and we still have 2 loaves left. No heating up the kitchen for next few days, I'm afraid.

Cold suppers are it for us, for now.

So, Thursday evening, I got together with my think-tank (my two daughters) and we brainstormed what dinner on the hot evenings should be. One of them suggested ham sandwiches, and the menu morphed from there. Here's Friday's cold supper.

Friday's dinner

• Ham and cheese sandwiches, on whole wheat, spread with mock pesto
• Seasoned, oven-roasted tomatoes topping a bed of lettuce and spinach
• Fresh cherries
• milk, iced tea and ice water to drink (our ice maker is working overtime)

Mock Pesto

Our basil looks pretty great, this year. In cooler summers, I've had straggly-looking stands of basil. Not so, this year! I've been using it to make a mock pesto, to top baked chicken and spread on sandwiches.

I use a couple of large handfuls of fresh basil leaves, garlic powder, salt and pepper, oil and pizza cheese (a blend of mozzarella and provolone), whirred together in the food processor. If I had Parmesan cheese and pine nuts, that would be wonderful. But really, this tastes pretty amazing, with all of the basil. And it's definitely a "more is more" condiment. The more I spread on an item, the more delicious said item is!

An Easy-day Salad

For the salad, I roasted the canned tomatoes in the early morning hours, in our counter-top, toaster oven (to reduce the heat-up of the kitchen). (See this post for instructions on oven-roasting canned tomatoes). When cooled, I cut each tomato half into strips, coated with more oil, dried oregano, a bit of vinegar, salt and garlic powder. Then chilled the whole bowlful for the day. At serving time, I spooned the roasted tomatoes over beds of garden greens. And that was the most cooking I did all day.


In this heat, I can only do so much physical activity. On Friday, I did my gardening as early in the day as I could. I had the day's cherries picked by 9 AM. Then I used some of the rest of my time to set up July's budget, take care of Monday's bill paying in advance and do some menu planning for this week. At that point, I was worn out from the heat. A tall glass of iced tea and a chair on the deck were about all I could take.

How about you? How do you handle summer's warmer days? What are your favorite no-cook dinners?

Life is a bowl of cherries, and a few worms

So, if you're at all squeamish about bugs and stuff in your food, don't read any further!

We have had so much gorgeous and warm weather for June, here. And now the cherries are all ripening about 2 weeks ahead of schedule.

Okay, so here's the buggy part. . . our cherry trees have been infested with currant fly (and yes, our currants are also infested). The cherries are only partially hit by the larvae, so not a total loss. But in not wanting to lose the cherries, I have been pitting and splitting all of them open, picking out larvae, before serving with dinner. I'm sure there are many that I miss, but at least nothing staring back at us, when we take a bite.

Why am I telling you about our buggy fruit? A lot of our homegrown produce gets hit with one sort of pest or another. Lettuce and strawberries get a little bitten by slugs. The kale gets the occasional cabbage worm. And spinach and chard gets hit with leaf miner every year. Usually, I just cut around the ruined part of the veggie. We just don't worry too much about it, and I do what I can, organically, in the garden to minimize infestations. And yes, I have cooked a pot of homegrown broccoli before, only to find a few cabbage worms in the cooking pot at serving time!

I figure that a few bugs have always been present in the food supply. Perfect-looking produce is a modern ideal. Our garden fruits and veggies would never pass inspection at an upscale market. I tell my kids all the time that a slug bite here or there is evidence of how free of chemicals our fruits and veggies really are. And hey, a little extra protein, free of charge, can't be all bad!

So, what's my point here? I know that some of you also have home gardens. And if you do, you've had your share of pest problems in the garden. And I'm willing to bet that you have also just cut away the buggy part, and eaten what's still good. To me, that just seems like the sensible thing to do.

A summer excursion and cost comparisons

I have another situation that I'm currently thinking though, with similarities to my beach parking dilemma.

This is an excursion for myself and 2 daughters.

The goal is not to spend as little as possible, but to make our time together enjoyable, without being frivolous with the budget. No unnecessary wastefulness.

A few years ago, my 3 kids and I went to a small town across the Sound, called Poulsbo. It's Norwegian in heritage, and a fun little spot to visit. I've been wanting to revisit that town this summer, with a couple or all of my kids.

Here are some of my options.

1) One day trip. Walk on the ferry, then take the public bus to the small town. It's about a 30 minute bus ride from the ferry terminal, which isn't bad at all. The problem is the limited bus schedule on the other end. The first bus of the morning from the ferry to Poulsbo doesn't even run until 9 AM, and we'd wanted to get to the town for an early breakfast at the locally-renown bakery. I love being in a town as it's first waking up for the day. Plus, the last bus of the day back to the ferry terminal leaves at 4:30 in the afternoon, so no chance of staying for the evening. I'll have to make a phone call and verify, but I think my daughters' bus fare would be free, as part of their monthly bus pass that they already buy to get to work, daily. The cost for my bus fare to Poulsbo would be $4 round trip. The ferry cost for 3 walk-ons is $24.

The other factor to consider is finding parking near the ferry terminal, or take local buses ( a series of 2 buses) to travel to the ferry terminal from our home. My daughters would be free on these buses, as well, but my cost would be $4.50 round trip (for a drive that costs $2.24 in gas round trip). Total cost for this trip would be $32.50 (to take all public transportation).

1b) A variation of this option is driving to the ferry, parking the car in a lot near the terminal. walking on ferry, taking public bus to Poulsbo. It would cost $2.24 in gas, and about $15 for all-day parking at the terminal, for drive down, walk on ferry, bus to Poulsbo, for a total trip cost of $45.24.

2) Another possibility, drive onto the ferry, have our car with us when we reach the other side. There's free parking in Poulsbo. But the drive-on cost for a car and 3 adults is about $50. We would be free to take a very early ferry and arrive in town as early as we would want. The bakery opens earlier than we could want to be there, and after breakfast, there's a nice walking path along Liberty Bay to explore. Shops and the free aquarium open around 10 AM. We could stay for free evening entertainment, and take a late ferry home.Total cost for this trip would be $50 plus about $5 in gas, for a cost of about $55.

3) Third (or is it fourth?) option, since we would already be making the ferry trip across the Sound, we could turn this into an overnighter. A nice, but inexpensive, place to stay would cost us just over $100 for 1 night, and would include a complimentary breakfast. It's where the kids and I stayed before. We could take all public transportation to get there, for a traveling cost of about $32.50. As we would be staying over 1 night, perhaps we wouldn't be as put off by the additional time required to do all buses, and limited scheduling of buses on the Poulsbo side of the Puget Sound. If all we had was a small backpack each, we could easily walk from the bus transfer station to the hotel. Our total cost for this version would be about $140.

I also looked into taxi costs to Poulsbo, and it is cheaper to drive our car onto the ferry and have our car to get to Poulsbo, than to take a taxi from the ferry terminal to the town.

Now that I've walked through the costs, I can see the value of each option. Driving to the ferry and leaving my car in paid-parking all day is almost as expensive as driving onto the ferry and keeping my car with us. Taking public buses on the other side of the Sound really limits the time we have available to explore Poulsbo. And taking all public transportation on both sides results in an additional 1  1/2 hours of travel time for a one-day excursion.

Keeping our car with us has one other advantage. We could pack the trunk with a very nice picnic lunch to enjoy in the waterfront park, bring sweatshirts for the cool early morning/late evening, pack plenty of hot coffee for me for the morning and ice water for all of us for the afternoon, plus a few snacks, AND have a place to put any fun finds from the many second-hand stores in that town. (We discovered on our first trip to Poulsbo that they have some great second-hand shops.) If we traveled by bus part of the way, we'd be more limited to what we could take with us (and bring home).

However, if we save $22.50 by taking public transportation the entire way, that could buy a nice carry-out lunch at the market to eat in the park, plus a cup of good coffee to get me started for the day and a couple of bottles of water for the afternoon.

In figuring if the overnight version really is of value, one of the things I take into consideration is just how many extra hours this would net us, for our excursion -- how many hours of enjoying the town do we gain by staying overnight. We would likely not begin our journey until later in the morning, so this would possibly be more leisurely travel. Wouldn't get to the town until about 10 AM, spending the day sightseeing, for about 10 hours of enjoyment on day 1. The following day, we would need to leave the town around 4 PM to make all of our bus connections, and so would enjoy the town for about 7 hours, for a total of about 17 hours. Compare this to driving there for 1 day, and spending up to 12 hours in that 1 day in the town (but more likely, about 10 hours).

Staying overnight doesn't quite double our time there, but almost triples our cost. It would actually be cheaper to drive/ferry there 2 days in a row, than to stay in the hotel, in town, overnight.

I'm still not sure which route to take. I guess we need to decide how many hours we realistically want and could manage for a day away. I am pretty sure we wouldn't really get the full value out of an overnight stay.

The final consideration I'll make, now that I can "see" the costs of all variations, is how to make the very most of a day away. One of my daughters was very disappointed that we didn't visit the free aquarium when we went to Poulsbo a few years ago. We happened to be there on days when the aquarium wasn't open. So, we would want to make sure that it was open for this excursion. I also would check the town calendar for local events going on. We happened to catch a brass band concert in the park on one of the evenings we visited, last time.

Does all of this look like a whole lotta extra thinking, just for a day trip? Or do you also map all of the possibilities out, in order to narrow down your choices?

Cheap & Cheerful suppers for June

Saturday
lasagna, made with cottage cheese (frozen from a markdown deal in early spring), spinach and chard leaves, mozzarella cheese, garlic for filling, and a traditional marinara sauce, plus pasta
large salad, with lettuce leaves, chopped, drained canned tomatoes, black olives, one Parmesan cheese packet (from a take-out a long time ago)
lemon cake roll

Sunday
pumpkin-pinto bean soup (also had red bell pepper, onion, garlic, cumin, corn, tomato sauce and chicken broth -- found the recipe online, pretty good)
fresh strawberries

Monday
turkey-noodle salad -- spaghetti noodles, sliced frozen turkey breast, cabbage, peanuts, snow peas, green onions, orange segments, in a dressing of oil, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes,  all over lettuce leaves
fresh strawberries

Tuesday
"crazy soup" adding canned tomato paste to the crazy soup pot in the freezer
Cheddar Bay biscuits


Wednesday
baked beans (making a sauce of sweet pickle juice, tomato paste, soy sauce and onions browned in saved bacon fat)
seasoned brown rice
carrot sticks
fresh strawberries and banana slices

Thursday
refried bean, seasoned rice and cabbage burritos (the cabbage was in a dressing of oil, vinegar, chili powder and garlic powder -- it was good)
carrot sticks
fresh strawberries

Friday
barbecued chicken legs (using up the very last few charcoal briquettes from 2 years ago), made a rub of chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper, then in last 20 minutes of cooking, spooned on a mix of barbecue sauce, soy sauce, tomato paste, and water
oven-roasted cut corn
carrot sticks
rhubarb sauce

Saturday
Asian-style chicken-noodle salad (like the turkey noodle salad above, but with chicken)
fruit salad leftover from serving at a charity tea (the proceeds from the tea went to the local Fill The Boot campaign)

Sunday
smoked salmon spread, crackers, peanuts, potato chips (given to us at the tea), carrot sticks, tossed green salad, strawberries, 2 pies (apple, also given to us, and lemon meringue that I made)

Monday
bean burgers topped with cheese and quickie ketchup (tomato paste and sweet pickle juice)
brown rice
kale and mustard greens sauteed in bacon drippings
leftover pie

Tuesday
kale, ham and onion quiche
mashed potatoes
steamed carrots in mustard glaze
watermelon pickles
leftover pie


Meals have been heavy on the carrot sticks this week. I bought a 25-lb bag of carrots, and for a busy week, carrot sticks are quicker to do than just about any other veggie.

Comparing the driving costs to 2 different locations

Last Friday, I talked about finding a new favorite beach to visit, one with free parking. The subject of the cost of gas to get to a new beach, came up.

I did find a beach that I really enjoy visiting. It's within walking distance of a quaint downtown area, with art galleries, cafes and a wide variety of shops to check out. The homes in the area are older and have sweet little gardens in front, making a walk around the town very pleasant.

This beach is a bit further from my house than my previous favorite beach, so it would cost more in gas to drive there and back.

How to figure this cost to make a comparison? I use Mapquest. When you request directions to a given location, on Mapquest, there's an option to calculate gas cost, based on year/make of car, the MPG it averages, plus type of gas that you purchase.

So, I did a Mapquest calculation for the distance and gas cost to both beaches.

My "old" beach had a one-way gas cost of 90 cents. My "new" beach has a one-way driving cost of $1.12. So, the increase in gas-cost is 44 cents round trip, but I save a minimum of $2 in parking.

Guess which beach I'll be frequenting this summer?

So it's summertime and that means corn-on-the-cob, right?

We love corn-on-the-cob, but right now, the best price I'm seeing is 3 ears for $1.

How do you compare the "value" of corn off the cob vs. corn-on-the-cob?

Right off the bat, I have to admit, we love fresh corn so much that we visit a u-pick farm at least once per summer, when the corn is ripe and ready for us to pick. And before local corn is ready, we also buy produce-stand, corn-on-the-cob, a couple of times per summer.

But for many recipes and meals, on-the-cob isn't necessary. Like corn relish, corn salsa, and corn pudding. All three of those dishes do fine with frozen and even canned corn.

Last week, I had my choice with corn. I could buy fresh ears at Target in the produce section, for 3/$1. Or, at Cash & Carry, I could buy 5-lb bags of frozen corn for $3.49.

With the corn-on-the-cob, my family would need a minimum of 3 ears, for $1. (Breaking each ear in half, that would give us 6 small servings of corn.) With the frozen corn, 16 ounces is about what I would serve our family, for a cost of 70 cents. But these aren't really equivalent servings, are they?

A medium-sized ear of fresh corn has about 3/4 cup of kernels. 3/4 cup of kernels weighs about .27 lb. To get the same amount of corn cut off of the cob, to equal 16 ounces of frozen corn, I would need to buy 3.70 ears of fresh corn, at a cost of $1.22. So, comparing the two, fresh corn-on-the-cob vs. frozen corn, the same amount of fresh corn costs $1.22, as frozen at 70 cents.

For our family, with Cash & Carry's price on frozen corn being my "buy" price for frozen cut corn, corn-on-the-cob needs to come down to 5 ears for $1, which yields about 74 cents per pound of cut kernels.

Your prices may vary. But for you to compare, remember this:

• 1 average ear of fresh corn yields about 3/4 cup of kernels
• those 3/4 cup of kernels from 1 ear of corn weigh about .27 pound (just over a quarter-lb)
• it takes about 3.7 ears of fresh corn to equal 1 pound (16-oz) of kernels
• if you're comparing the costs between canned and fresh, a typical can of corn kernels weighs about 15 ounces, and contains about 1  1/2 cups of drained corn, or .54 pound. It takes about 1.85 of the 15-oz cans of corn to get 1  pound of kernels. So, if you can get canned corn at 39 cents per can, that would be about 72 cents per 1-pound of drained kernels, or what works out to be roughly my "good" price on frozen corn.

What all of this means for my family is that in summer, I DO buy frozen corn, for using in recipes. But we also "splurge" on roasting ears a few times per summer, for the experience of eating corn-on-the-cob. However, we're aware that when fresh corn prices are 3/$1, or even 4/$1, it's not the best buy, and it is the experience of eating corn-on-the-cob that we're paying for.

FYI, unless you have a super-cheap source of fresh corn, it's almost never the best deal to cut corn off the cob to freeze for winter. Commercially-frozen corn will, in most cases, be cheaper than doing it yourself.

When something used to be free, but now there's a charge

So, how do you deal with this? When you've grown accustomed to having or using something, that had always been available, free of charge, and now it's no longer free.

Our favorite beach, the one with a lighthouse, lovely park and near a fish and chips place, plus a couple of ice cream stands, is now charging for parking.

Because of the nature of it's location (on the other side of train tracks), there is no convenient street parking near the main parking lot and beach front. You drive over a bridge to cross the train tracks, to get to the beach.

Anyway, starting June 1, there is now a $2 per hour charge for parking. That's just too steep for me, when I just want to spend some time in my thinking spot. I'm really sad about this, so much so I was awake for a bit the other night pondering my options.

There is a local bus, but the fare is $2.25 each way. The nearest street parking, over the bridge, would be quite a hike, but possibly do-able. However, I am very sure that I wouldn't be the only person considering this as a possibility, and free street parking is extremely limited in this small community (some streets require permits). And then there's the possibility of changing favorite beaches.

Maybe I should look on this as an opportunity to explore other possibilities. I think I need some chocolate.

Have you ever been faced with a similar dilemma, something that used to be available for free, now has a charge? How did you handle that situation?


On another note, I want to say a big thanks to all of you who suggested that I freeze homemade flour tortillas. I began doing this about a month ago, and they thawed perfectly. Then, yesterday afternoon, I went to make tortillas for burritos, and I was somewhat absent-minded and accidentally added 2 cups of flour, instead of one (and I'd already added the salt when I figured this out).  And then, I remembered I could freeze the extra tortillas. Great! So, half of the tortillas were used last night, and the other half frozen for another day. Thank you!!!

Salvaging bottles from the recycling bin, for homemade herb vinegar and dressings

Each summer, I make a couple of types of herb vinegars, to use on salads and in cooking. A favorite of mine is rosemary vinegar. But I also make chive blossom vinegar and thyme vinegar.

I always have lots of white vinegar on hand, and plenty of herbs in the garden to use. But I never seem to have enough bottles for my homemade vinegar. I wind up giving away some of my bottles to friends who are interested in making herb vinegars with me.

So, in winter and spring, I begin "collecting" bottles that I think will work well for storing and pouring vinegar.

This bottle, here, is a coffee flavoring syrup bottle. I finished off the hazelnut syrup from this bottle, for my coffee this spring. I like this bottle, as it has a plastic cap, which won't corrode from exposure to the vinegar. (BTW, it does need more rosemary. I'll be adding more as my plants grow this summer.)

Here's another bottle, from sparkling apple cider. The name brand of sparkling apple cider that I see on sale during the holidays, uses a green bottle. But this particular brand uses a clear one, which I prefer for vinegars.

I just gave away a smaller 16-oz bottle. It had contained commercial white-wine vinegar. That bottle was a good size for the vinegars that I only make in smaller quantities, like sweet blueberry vinegar.

When I had a couple of friends over to make chive blossom vinegar, recently, one friend asked me where I got my bottles. I explained that while she could buy bottles at World Market or a thrift store, she could also look around her kitchen for bottles about to go to the recyclers. A lot of beverages, sauces and condiments still come in glass bottles. Some of these bottles have a shape that looks right for storing/pouring the vinegar. While others have a look that I like for storing homemade salad dressings.

For storing homemade vinaigrettes:

This is a brandy bottle, from making brandied cherries 2 summers ago. It looks just right for my homemade vinaigrette, don't you think? when one of my daughters came into the kitchen one day, she thought I had bought bottled salad dressing, that is until she noticed there was no label. I could store homemade dressings in canning jars (and I do from time to time), but I do like how dressings pour so easily and neatly from a bottle with a narrow neck.

Occasionally, I have a bottle that's missing a cap. Bottles that I buy second-hand often come without caps or stoppers. A couple of years ago, I bought a small bag of corks at Cost Plus, for about $2. The bag had about a dozen cork stoppers. Craft supply stores also carry cork stoppers. Or, you could save one (or ask a friend for one of theirs) from a used-up bottle of wine.

The other option to buying cork stoppers for bottle lacking a cap, is a plastic cap from any other bottle. If it's a screw-top bottle that you need a cap for, check other bottle caps about to be tossed, to find one that fits. Those green sparkling apple cider bottles that I mentioned above, come bottled with a metal cap that you use a bottle opener on, not reusable, but they also have a plastic pop on, pop off cap, for resealing the bottle. These plastic caps work well on many repurposed bottles from the kitchen.

Call me city-folk

So, I guess you could say that I'm a city girl. I've never lived in any place rural in my life. It's been either suburbs or cities.

Imagine my delight when we saw this guy/gal in our yard!

He/she has been wandering in and out for over a week now. Our neighbors spotted it first, about 2 weeks ago.

Mostly, he/she eats the leaves off of the lower branches of the cherry and plum tree, but it leaves the fruit untouched. Go figure.

I hope it can find its way back home, as I'm sure it misses its companions.

In the meantime, so long as he/she stays out of the veggie garden, he's welcome to a few leaves here.

On a humorous frugal note, my first thought when I saw the deer, "oh meat!" And then the next day, my son asked, "can you milk a deer?" I googled "milking wild deer", and apparently other people have wondered the very same thing. No, I don't think we'll use this deer for anything other than visual enjoyment.

Remember that leaf-cutting I took from my African violet plant?

Well, here's one of them!

Fall of 2013, I took 4 leaves, plunged them into soil, and kept watered. 2 leaves developed into full-blown plants. And one is in bloom right now! Both of my new plants are ready to give as gifts, at the next opportunity.

Exciting, right?

Well, the excitement continues (I lead a remarkably exciting life, don't you think?).

Late winter of this year, I decided I was going to try my hand at propagating Christmas Cactus, to give as a hostess gift for a dinner or party come November or December of 2016. (I plan ahead, way ahead.)

I plucked a cluster of Christmas Cactus leaves off of my one plant, and plunged it into soil, keeping it watered for the last few months.

Do you know how to tell if your Christmas Cactus leaf cutting has developed roots? When you see some reddish or pinkish new growth at the tip of one of the leaves, that's a sign the roots have begun.

I'll be babying this little plant for the next year and a half, and by the holidays of 2016, I should have a full-fledged, and in flower plant to give as a hostess gift.

These sell for $10-15 per plant in grocery stores during the holidays. I think I'll take another 2 or 3 cuttings this week, and get more plants on their way, for holiday gifting.

Homemade hot rice cereal (and a math tweak)

So, I realize that practically no one here is making their own rice milk. Not a problem to me. But I thought I'd show you what the home-cooked hot rice cereal looks like, and how I make it.

If you're a fan of cream of wheat, hot rice cereal is most like that cereal. I personally prefer the rice cereal to oatmeal. For me, in addition to a texture thing, rice cereal is so much easier on my tummy.

This is how I'm currently making this hot rice cereal.

I use the leftover rice pulp from making a batch of rice milk. When I make rice milk, I put the pulp in the freezer, to cook up whenever I have some time, and need the rice cereal for a breakfast option for the family.

To cook:

Eyeball-measure the rice pulp. I use an amount of water that is roughly 3 times the rice pulp. This is usually about 3 cups of water to 1 cup of rice pulp. I bring the water to a boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the rice pulp and stir. I also add a few drops of maple extract and a couple of tablespoons of sugar, plus 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt. I stir this from time to time as it cooks. Once it comes to a boil, I reduce heat and simmer until thick, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. At the very end of cooking, I swirl in a tablespoon of butter. The cooking process is very much like making polenta, and takes about 20 minutes.

Some days, we eat it right away. Other days, I let it cool then keep in the fridge to reheat as we want.

Rice is one of the few grains that my stomach can tolerate all of the time. Breakfasts are a bit limited, as a result. So this cereal is a blessing for me.


Now, that math tweak.

I had previously thought of my cost of making rice milk to be about 30 cents per quart (before adding the cost of the calcium supplements). Well, I completely forgot that the rice pulp is valuable to me as a food, too. I would say that the milk is roughly half of the value and the cereal the other half. So . . . my "real" cost to make my own rice milk is about 15 cents for the milk alone, and 12 cents for the supplements, for a total of 27 cents per quart. That's about 1/4 of what I pay for cheapo soy milk at Dollar Tree. Yep! Definitely continuing to make my own rice milk.

As a bonus, homemade rice milk makes a great coffee latte, when I add a bit of almond extract and some sugar to my coffee/rice milk. I do this as decaf after lunch, and this satisfies my cravings for dessert.

Satisfied

Using every last speck of under-eye concealer and powder blush (there's still a teensy bit in the corners, but I'm working on that daily). So satisfying.

More egg-y stuff: repackaged eggs

I don't know if you've ever seen these in your stores before.

This is a carton of repackaged eggs. When several cartons of eggs have a few damaged ones inside, the store will sometimes repackage the good eggs into a new conatiner, and toss out the cracked ones.

The outside of this carton indicates the store number and date of repacking, in handwriting. The carton says that the eggs are Medium Grade B, but upon opening the carton . . .

I can see that these are larger than Mediums, most look like Large and a couple look Extra-Large. This looks like a carton of eggs of varying size (but given designation of Medium, meaning the one dozen eggs in this carton weigh the minimum of 21 ounces, but likely more).

Grade usually refers to the condition of the shell, whether or not it's misshapen or has slight staining. (But these eggs don't appear to have exterior abnormalities.) As well, Grade can refer to interior condition of each egg, such as how large of an air pocket the egg contains or the thickness of the white portion of the egg -- both of which is determined by candling.

The outside of this carton of eggs also has a space to write in the candling date, but nothing is recorded in that space.

Here's a photo comparing a "regular" Large egg on the left (from a carton of eggs I already had at home), to a repackaged egg on the right. All of the repackaged eggs are large compared to my "regular" eggs.


Regulations concerning the repacking of eggs varies by state. Overall, eggs to be repacked cannot be past the sell-by date, contaminated with egg from other cracked eggs, or packed into a dirty carton. If there is no new sell-by date, 30 days from the repacking date is the general guide for safety and freshness.

These repackaged eggs are sold at a discount over the store's regular price for eggs. I bought 3 dozen of these eggs on Senior Discount day at Fred Meyer, for $1.19 less the 10% discount = my price of $1.07 per dozen.

I have found repackaged eggs on a couple of occasions, at a couple of different stores. They are usually set to the side, but still in the egg cooler, and have hand-written information about packaging, as well as pricing directly on the carton (not a tag on the shelf). My experience has been that these eggs show up late Monday or early Tuesday. Just an FYI. Keep your eyes open.

As for using these eggs in my kitchen, when I bring home cartons of repacked eggs, I move these cartons to the front of the line, for use ahead of any other eggs I may have purchased -- just to be safe. Otherwise, they are just as good as any other egg I buy.