What was in my cart at Walgreen's this week? (And what was my minor blunder?)

In an attempt to reduce my spending on all household goods and health and beauty items, I am reading sales ads very closely and trying to match with coupons found online.

Last week, I made a bottle of spray glass and window cleaner, using ammonia, isopropyl alcohol, dish soap and water. My daughter does the windows, here. And she told me it worked very well. So that's a keeper. (recipe here) At 12 cents a pint, it cost less than half of what the large refill jug of window cleaner costs per pint at Dollar Tree.

This week, I thoroughly went through Walgreen's online Sunday ad, to find their deals.

So, the daughter who does windows (yay for that!), prefers spray cleaner, a squeegee, and paper towels. Who am I to argue with her supply list, if the result is I don't have to wash windows? So, the other week, I bought paper towels for the first time in years. My best deal, on the spur of the moment, was Cash & Carry at 69 cents per 65 sheet roll. That's .0106153 per sheet. Walgreen's has their house brand of paper towels, on sale for 50 cents per 56 sheet roll, or .0089285. I bought 4 rolls and saved just under 38 cents.

Cerave is my moisturizing cream and face wash (I "wash" with the cream). I've been paying about $12.49 per container, when on sale, at Bartell's. Walgreen's has it on sale this week, as a BOGO1/2 off. The shelf price is $15.49. BOGO1/2 off gives me a price of $11.615 each. I went online to find a coupon, and printed out 1 coupon for $2 off any purchase of two Cerave items, bringing my cost down to $10.615 each. I bought 2 containers and saved $3.75. On top of the savings, these were bonus packs. each canister of moisturizing cream came with a trial bar of their moisturizing soap. Yay for useful free stuff!

When I'm paying, I use drug store cosmetics. When someone else is paying (the birthday freebies that I get from Sephora, or birthday/Christmas gifts from family members), I am happy to use department store cosmetics. (Both my son and my husband gave me Sephora gift cards for Christmas this year.) Anyways, drug store cosmetics can be quite good, even for someone like myself who is allergic to many ingredients in cosmetics. I like Neutrogena's loose mineral powder as a very light foundation. I've been buying it at Target, when on sale, for about $12.99. Walgreen's has all of their Neutrogena cosmetics on sale this week at BOGO1/2 off. Their shelf price for this powder is $14.79. They only had one compact of my shade. I inquired, and the cashier said she would sell me 1 compact at 25% off (which is what the BOGO1/2 off works out to). Good deal, as again, I had gone online and found a coupon for $1 off any 1 Neutrogena cosmetic item. My powder came to $10.09, after coupon, saving me $2.90 on that item.

In December, Walgreen's had cream cheese on sale with in-ad coupon for 99 cents each 8-oz brick, limit 4. I tried a couple of stores and found very little stock, so I requested a rain check. I used one of my rain checks and bought my 4 packages.

So far, so good. With these next 2 items I made minor blunders. 1000 sheet bathroom tissue was on sale for 50 cents/roll. When I bought bath tissue through Staples last spring, I paid (pre-tax) just under 48 cents per roll. But the other day, I mistakenly compared the after-tax price, of 51 cents per roll. I bought 6 rolls of Walgreen's 1000 sheet bath tissue at 50 cents per roll, pre-tax, costing me an extra 2 cents per roll, or 12 cents total.

And with facial tissue -- Walgreen's has boxes of their house brand facial tissue on sale for 99 cents. I usually buy facial tissue at Dollar Tree for $1. I thought I'd be saving 3 cents total, on 3 boxes of tissues. However, the Dollar Tree brand boxes contain 175 tissues per box (or .0057142 per tissue), whereas the Walgreen's boxes contain 160 tissues (at .0061875 per tissue). This minor blunder cost me just over 22 cents, total.

Despite my two minor blunders, overall I had a healthy savings of $6.69 (not counting the savings from the cream cheese rain check, as I wouldn't buy cream cheese if it were priced over $1, anyway).

The benefit of making small blunders, like these, is they create a mind-set of vigilance in me, preventing me from making similar blunders in the future. I'm not likely to make the same mistake on facial tissues again. And now I know, Dollar Tree does have a good price on tissues.

January is a good month to . . .

Save gas and stay home, for a change. All of the activities and shopping surrounding the holidays meant I went through more gas than usual in December.

Get back to a fitness routine. All of that activity and shopping meant that I had little time to workout. I started back up with indoor jogging last week, just 15 minutes worth, 3 days a week. that doesn't sound like it could benefit me very much, but it's a start, and is getting me back into the "habit" of fitness.

Take stock of my grocery inventory, use what I have, and buy less food for the month. I now have loads of baking and cooking goodies in my pantry, fridge and freezer. This is a good month to begin using some of it up.

Put on a sweater or long undie bottoms, or start up some housework that really gets me moving (with good music to add fuel to my fire), when I feel chilled in the house. Saving on the heat bill, now, will give me some fun money, later.

Make candied orange peels. January and February are the months that I buy the most fresh oranges. Making candied orange peel, for baking with in chopped form, or dipping in chocolate for candy, uses all of the orange (or almost all). And I do love free candy! Candied orange peel freezes well. So along about Mother's Day, I can add some to a batch of scratch scones to have with brunch.

Find those projects that I bought the supplies to, eons ago. I have fabric for making chair and sofa cushions, that I bought in 2013, if you can believe that! I'm now getting around to making a cushion or two for the family room.

Hole up with a good book, or an entire season of a favorite television series on dvd -- both from the library of course. I'm reading An Everlasting Meal, by Tamar Adler. I read Amazon's sneak peak, online and was intrigued, so I put it on hold at our library. I also completely missed Downton Abbey season 4. I checked out that dvd from the library, as well. Working my way through the episodes. And contrary to what I feared, seeing this season out of sequence hasn't spoiled the watching at all. Still just as fascinated, as I wonder why on Earth does someone need a lady's maid, to hand her some gloves and earrings? I understand how nice it would be to have someone do my washing and ironing, but aside from buttons or zippers down the back of a dress, I think I could get myself dressed and undressed without the extravagance of a maid. But I love the storylines, despite the extravagance.

Make vacation plans for later this year. At least half of the fun is in the planning, so I plan to plan as much as I can! And if I put on my sweater, often enough, instead of cranking up the heat, maybe I will have saved some extra cash to go towards a fun vacation.

Make those appointments that should have been made a couple of months ago. Those items now glare back at me from my to-do list, as I try to ignore their need. But I will make myself call for my appointments.

Get organized for tax time. Ugh! Another item from my to-do list which I am having a hard time, to-doing. One step at a time. I have a little list of items, to get me organized with taxes, on my computer notepad. Today, I set out a box, for paperwork as it comes in, and memos to myself to remember certain items which never have a paper attached to them.

Make a spending, saving and giving plan for the year. If I plan it, it will happen practically effortlessly. With charitable giving this year, we plan on setting up a direct transfer of stock, to donate mutual funds shares to our church for our tithing. This mutual fund has appreciated since purchase. If we sold the mutual fund shares to give cash, we would have the tax burden of capital gains on our investment. By donating the mutual find shares directly, we avoid capital gains on any of the profits. Making our gift this way will allow us to be more generous, in the end.

Sit down with a cup of blueberry tea with honey, and savor the quiet that follows the excitement of the holidays. Today, there is time for a quiet moment. I'll savor it before the madness of spring gardening begins. I think I'll use one of the good cups.

My potatoes are "going" faster than I'd planned

Sunday lunch of mashed potatoes topped with a meatball and veggie gravy

I live such an exciting life. What was it? New York, Rome or Paris this weekend?

Oh, yes. Saturday afternoon found me in my kitchen, peeling almost 10 pounds of potatoes, after finding a couple of potatoes going moldy in one bag.

So I peeled, cooked and mashed a huge pot full, yielding 5 quarts of mashed potatoes. I've frozen most of these, to use later. The rest we had for Sunday's lunch (topped with a mushroom, vegetable and beefy gravy), and again today, topped with Cheddar and packed in some of the lunches.

I have 40 pounds remaining, of my 100-pound purchase. About 15 pounds of those look like they need cooking soon. The other 25 should keep for a while longer in the fridge.

As I peeled and peeled and peeled, I consoled myself with the thought that I was actually doing something very productive. I now have several containers of mashed potatoes, ready and waiting for thrown-together, quick dinners.

As my freezer has emptied of my stockpile of ingredients, I have filled the empty spots with ready-made entrees and sides. Having these ready-made items will afford me more spare time, in the late afternoons for some projects and crafts. That's worth spending a Saturday afternoon peeling potatoes.


Frozen, the thawed, mashed potatoes need some beating to get their texture back. I'll typically reheat in the microwave, then beat with the mixer, or use the masher, and add more milk, butter, and/or cheese or cream cheese. They're then perfect for a side dish or topping a Shepherd's Pie.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers to start the New Year

Celery Salad from Tuesday

Friday
It'll be pizza and a movie night at home for us. We've checked out a movie from the library, and I have homemade pizza sauce in the fridge. I'll make a scratch pizza crust (using this recipe). As pizza is finger food, and we'll be eating while watching a movie, I'll add other finger foods. We have some cola leftover in the fridge. It's likely a bit flat, but we're not picky and will drink it anyway. I have a sliced lime in the fridge, too. I like cola with lemon and ice in it, but we'll give lime a try tonight. So, here's the New Year's dinner menu:

homemade pizza (cheese, olives and onions)
carrot sticks
celery sticks
orange segments
apple wedges
cranberry-oatmeal-pecan cookies
cola

Saturday
meatloaf (I'll make a double batch and freeze half for a future meal)
gravy
mashed potatoes (I'll make extras for a quick potato-onion soup tomorrow)
caramelized onions (the leftover onions will go into tomorrow's soup)
frozen peas
pumpkin pie (making 3 pies, for leftovers to get through early in the week, and 1 for the freezer)

Sunday
rosemary-turkey-potato soup
bread
leftover pumpkin pie

Monday
leftover rosemary-turkey soup
Yorkshire pudding
celery sticks
leftover pie

Tuesday
homemade tomato soup
toasted cheese sandwiches
celery salad
pumpkin pie

Wednesday
kale, onion and ham quiche (making 2, 1 for tonight, the other for the freezer; the pie dough is from the big batch I made on Saturday, rolled out these last 2 crusts and put into pie tins, kept in the fridge for a few days)
oven-roasted winter squash and potatoes

Thursday
(Christmas un-decorating party tonight, which means snacky foods for dinner)

crackers
cream cheese and pepper jelly spread
carrot and celery sticks
olives
deviled eggs
meatballs
orange segments
peanuts
chocolates and the last of the homemade peppermint ice cream


I have to admit, my favorite dinner this week was the meatloaf. I just love my beef these days. Along with a gravy, some mashed potatoes and freshly-baked pumpkin pie, it was all so delicious.

You may have noticed, we're eating a lot of carrots, celery, oranges, onions and potatoes. 'Tis that season. I'm hoping for more variety in early spring, when produce stands open for the season.

The January vegetable garden

My finger tips are frozen into useless stumps, as I type this. There is black ice on the street in front of our house. And I had a 1-inch thick slab of ice to toss off of one of the garden row covers when I went out to harvest some kale. That is how cold an early January day can be, here in the Pacific Northwest.

Yet still, there are vegetables that I can harvest. They somehow have the gumption to outwit the freezes and snow that mother nature hands out to us here.

I harvested a full bucket of baby kale with which to make 2 quiches. I could have harvested more, but my fingers were fumbling in their numbness.

What else has survived? I saw Swiss chard, mustard greens, radish greens, sorrel, beet greens and watercress, all in edible condition. The cabbage, sadly, did not survive, even under a row cover. But we shall relish having fresh vegetables even in these short days of January.

It should be noted that not everything that survived was under a row cover. Some of the kale, the radish greens, beet greens, sorrel and watercress are all out in the open. The baby kale in the photo, above, came from a spot in the open.

Anyone in the maritime northwest contemplating trying a winter garden should be encouraged that many greens can be grown through winter, here.

Grocery and household shopping plans for January

For the most part, we are well-supplied with food items, right now.

I am running low on brown rice and vinegar. I have a constant need for heavy whipping cream (though maybe not as much as previously), whole milk, instant powdered milk (as a protein and calorie boost for one daughter, mixes in to many things), and nuts for snacking (sunflower seeds are our most affordable nut/seed, with peanuts not far behind, but almonds are definitely a preference for snacking). I've also just used the last of the onion powder, which is nice for quick soups, sauces and gravies, and the last of the solid shortening for making pie crusts.

With regards to produce, we have some fresh oranges and a handful of apples and pears remaining. January is a good month for finding oranges on sale, so I'll be looking for those, priced below 40 cents/lb. In addition, I usually find avocados at a reasonable price in January and February. At Cash & Carry last February, I found medium avocados in a 16-ct bag, for 44 cents per avocado. I'll be looking for similar pricing on avocados again. As well, we are back to buying bananas from Trader Joe's twice per month. At 19 cents each, Trader Joe's has the best deal going on bananas in my area.

I'll be watching the ads, online, for Cash & Carry and Fred Meyer for the best deals, and quickly peruse the front page of the mailed ads from Albertson's and QFC. Interesting, Albertson's ads have been looking strikingly similar to Safeway's ads this past year. I did a bit of research and discovered the two companies merged early in 2015. And now their sales duplicate each other. This is great when an item is a loss leader, if I need it immediately and one store is out of stock. But it's lousy for variety in weekly sale items (and potentially for competitive prices). For me, this does save me time looking over the ads, as I can just skim one store's ads, and ignore the other's. For non-traditional grocery stores, I'll also make a late-in-the-month pass by Imran's, the nearby ethnic market that carries a small, but well-priced selection of produce. I'll be looking for fresh apples (last spring they had apples, still crisp, for 39 cents per lb).

And that's about it for January grocery shopping plans.

In addition to food items, I have a few household items that I'm looking for. For the last year, I've been taking one household item at a time to find a less expensive version or way to buy/make it.

I'll be looking for bathroom tissue, again. Last May, I bought a case of 96 rolls online, from Staples. We are now running low, and I'll need to buy a new supply soon.

I am also looking for laundry detergent. Mid-summer, I found an institutional-size package of laundry detergent at Cash & Carry, priced competitively to my homemade soap. The commercial stuff really does a better job on "man smell". But my skin (eczema) prefers melted, sensitive-skin bar soap. So, I've been alternating between the two. I'm about out of the institutional-size package of laundry detergent, but have plenty of melted soap, to use until I find a deal on commercial stuff.

I also opened the last box of automatic dish detergent, yesterday, so I will be pricing the various brands, looking closely at institutional sizes. I've been pretty satisfied with Sun brand, sold at Dollar Tree for 20 oz. I'll compare that one to what I find at Cash & Carry.

Other household items on my list include low watt lightbulbs, plastic wrap and window/glass cleaner. The window and glass cleaner is on my list for trying a homemade version. One of my daughters cleans the inside of the downstairs windows, as well as all mirrors, each week. She prefers to use a spray bottle of solution. And we just finished off our supply of bottled glass cleaner.

Commercial window/glass cleaner costs $1 at Dollar Tree, in the refill jug (64 oz). This is the recipe I'll be trying for this Saturday. This homemade version cost me just under 48 cents for 64 oz, with far less plastic waste. The majority of the window cleaning solution is water. No sense paying for the water, or the larger plastic jug to hold the water. I'll make it up 16 oz at a time, so I don't have to store extra, and this amount will work well in our spray bottle. Plus, if I don't like how it works on glass, the individual ingredients are still available for other uses.

Homemade window/glass cleaner

2 oz. 70% rubbing alcohol
12 oz water

pour alcohol and water into spray bottle and shake up. Add the following ingredients, and shake to combine:

1 tablespoon ammonia
1/8 teaspoon liquid hand-washing dish detergent
more water to fill to 16 oz

Dollar Tree sells ammonia in 64 oz bottles. That should last about 2 years, at 1 tablespoon per recipe. I picked up 1 bottle of rubbing alcohol at Fred Meyer on Senior Day, yesterday.


And, although I am all shopped out, I will be making one more pass by Penney's and Macy's at the mall, later this week, checking out their clearance in the men's sections. There are a couple of winter men's accessories that I realized after I was done shopping that both my husband and son could use. So, I'll be looking for those items on deep discount, and save them for next year.

So, I got this fantastic deal on spring-flowering bulbs . . .

. . . but our ground was too frozen to dig for planting.

Not exactly gardening weather in my neighborhood these days

In late November and early December, I bought 80 daffodil bulbs, 20 Dutch hyacinth, 15 grape hyacinth, and 40 tulip bulbs, for 75% off the original price. My obstacle was how to plant them, with frozen soil and super cold temperatures. No one in their right mind would want to be out for long, working in the garden this time of year.

So, I rounded up my stash of pots, set them in the garage, and partially filled with soil. My daughters helped me pot those bulbs, and top with more soil. I bought 3 bags of garden soil, to fill the pots. I had planned on improving the garden soil where these bulbs would be planted, anyway. So, I don't see the expense of buying the garden soil to be a waste. It will help and amend the areas where the bulbs will eventually be planted.

I now have all of these potted spring-flowering bulbs waiting in the garage for temps to moderate a bit. Although these types of bulbs can tolerate freezing soil, in the ground quite well, in pots they're more susceptible to freeze damage. I'll move the pots to the deck later this month. Then plant the bulbs in the garden, when the soil can be worked again.

I'll be honest, planting all of these bulbs was a chore. If it weren't for my daughters's help, I don't think I would have been nearly as cheerful in the planting as I was. It was a messy and bone-chilling chore. I am thankful for daughters who will happily lend a hand, in my pursuit of more spring flowers. I think I owe them a bouquet when the bulbs bloom.

Some cooking and gifting highlights from my blogging break

Preparing a feast, bringing a gift, or just plain planning ahead, there was much rushing about in my kitchen this last month. I could be heard muttering, "I need another hostess gift", repeatedly, for a couple of weeks. Like a child, standing in front of the open refrigerator,  and claiming "there is nothing to eat", I, myself, stood in front of my pantry shelves, unsure if I could find yet another gift, for another impromptu invitation, or a made-from-scratch holiday treat for our celebrations.

Fortunately, pantry shelves hide many treasures, waiting for inspiration and festive packaging, yet with minimal fuss.

I did get that Buche de Noel done. I baked, filled and rolled up the cake and kept it frozen until Christmas Eve day. On the 24th, I took it out of the freezer and iced it. Then shortly before serving, I added some leaves (baby kale), and "berries" (red skittles), plus a dusting of snow (confectioner's sugar). I didn't make a side branch on my yule log, as I sometimes think those make the log look too stumpy. Plus my serving tray is long and narrow. I'm not sure a side branch would have fit very well.

I needed a last-minute hostess gift for a family we know. They are vegan and eat very little sugar. So, this was a challenge for me. I came up with a jar of trail mix, combining dried cranberries, pecan halves, roasted sunflower seeds, roasted almonds and pretzels. All of these were pantry items for us. And the jar was one of those nice square jars that I salvaged from the recycle bin at our church. I tied the neck of the jar with some raffia and red and white twine.

I found half-pints of heavy whipping cream marked down to 25 cents each.  I bought 4 half-pints. At least half of it I used to make some rich chocolate ice cream, to save for my daughters's birthday this March. It's in the freezer right now, packed in a 1-qt container, with a sheet of plastic wrap between the top of the ice cream and the plastic lid. That should keep frost to a minimum.

I needed a small gift bag for another hostess gift to some friends. I turned to printed out sheet music and some reused red satin ribbon to make my own.

A couple of gifts for girlfriends came from my home canning, a jar of spiced fig jam and a jar of sweet cherry preserves. Simple presentation of jars tied with raffia, red and white twine and a sprig of rosemary.

she sighed and finally said, "this should be enough" -- December 2015 Grocery Shopping Journal

December 1. Fred Meyer for Senior Discount day.  10% off all house-brand foods. Bought 6 half-gallons of whole milk for 89 cents/half gallon, 1 pint of heavy whipping cream for $1.79, 1 box of Stash tea for $2 (with coupon), 3 2-lb bags of confectioner's sugar, $1.35 each, .46 lb of pecan halves ($7.28/lb -- I had bought lots of pecans in November, but with this good price, I'll freeze these for using much later in the year), 1.45 lbs of blanched, slivered almonds ($5.60/lb), 1 mushroom, for a pizza (33 cents). Not a whole lot I was interested in food-wise this month. I spent $24.98

December 2. 2 stops at Walgreen's on my errands today, for cream cheese, 8-oz, 99 cents each, limit 4 w/coupon. I buy 5 so far (and got a raincheck for 4 more, as one store only had 1 package available). Spent $4.95 There's another Walgreen's on the way to choir practice tonight. I'll stop in there and also pick up something I forgot on my other stops (forgot my little slip of paper with my list at home).

Dec. 2 evening -- went by Walgreen's on way home from choir practice. I picked up 4 more packages of cream cheese (99cents/each) and 1 8-oz jar of Maxwell House decaf instant coffee (99cents). I'm not a huge instant coffee fan, but for 99 cents, I'll use it. There was a section of marked down items at the register. The coffee is the only thing that tempted me. (and I got the hydrogen peroxide that I forgot earlier in the day, 3 bottles for $1) spent on food -- $3.75

So far, month to date, I've spent $33.68

Dec. 5. I stop in to Walgreen's for more cream cheese, after dropping daughters at choir practice. No cream cheese, but I find several gallons of milk marked at 99cents. My fridge and freezers are full. The sell-by date on the milk is in 3 days. I see 2 of the gallons are whole milk. Even though we are well-stocked with milk, and couldn't possibly freeze or drink this milk, I buy 2 gallons of the whole fat milk. I do so with the intention of turning this milk into yogurt, and then straining a good share of it to make yogurt cheese. Homemade yogurt will keep up to one month, if the jars were properly sterilized, and kept in the fridge. This will prolong the usability of this milk by almost 4 weeks. An by turning it into yogurt cheese, to use over the holidays in place of cream cheese, I will save about half the sale price of cream cheese, in holiday foods that I make this season (a cheese spread one night, and a cheesecake later in the season). So, I got a raincheck on the cream cheese, to use sometime in the next 2 months, and I bought 2 gallons of milk. Spent $1.98

Dec. 5 Dollar Tree for a couple of "special" items for the holidays -- pretzels, crackers, one more box of mini candy canes. Spent $3

Dec. 8 Fred Meyer. They offered one extra Senior Discount Day this month. I bought 4 8-oz bricks of cream cheese, for 89cents each. Spent $3.56

Dec.18 QFC has half hams on sale for $1.29/lb, limit 2. I buy 2. Also, I found half-pints of heavy whipping cream for 25 cents each, to use within 1 week. I buy 4. Spent $26.19

month to date spending -- $68.41

Dec 18. Albertson's -- find 24 oz containers of cottage cheese marked down to $1. I buy 1. I use this for lasagna. Spent $1

Dec. 21. Fred Meyer for celery, lowest price I've seen this year in my area, 69cents/ lb. I buy 2 bundles, plus 1 1-lb box lasagna noodles ($1.17), and I find 6 cartons of repackaged eggs at $1.19/dozen. I spend $10.61

Dec.28. Fred Meyer for milk, on sale half-gallons for 99cents each, limit 6 w/coupon. I buy 6. Spent $5.94

Dec. 28. Go by Trader Joe's for bananas. They're priced at 19 cents each. I buy 14, and spend $2.66

Dec.30. Fred Meyer for gas, while there I buy 2 more half-gallons of milk at 99 cents each. Spent $1.98

Month to date spending -- $90.60

Items bought in the month of December

produce
1 mushroom
2 bundles celery
14 bananas

dairy
14 half-gallons whole milk
1 pint heavy whipping cream
4 half-pints heavy whipping cream
13 8-oz packages cream cheese
2 gallons whole milk
24 oz cottage cheese
6 dozen eggs

meat
2 half hams, bone-in

pantry
1 18-ct box of Earl Grey Double Bergamot tea (one of my favorites)
6 lbs of confectioner's sugar
almost 1/2 lb of pecan halves
almost 1  1/2 lbs of slivered almonds
8-oz jar instant decaf coffee
1 bag pretzels
1 box crackers
1 box mini candy canes
1-lb lasagna noodles


Finally, what is in the pantry, refrigerator and freezer should be enough, for a while.

Coming into the month of December, I was $93.78 over budget. With a monthly budget for food groceries of $200.00, that left $106.22 to spend this past month. I spent $90.60, which is $15.62 UNDER budget!!

I never felt like I was depriving myself of anything, all month, never felt I was limiting my purchases severely. So, this must mean I have bought all I wanted to buy, and am well-set for the coming month or two. I'll still pick up great deals as I find them. And I will replenish milk supplies as needed. But January should not be a big spend month for groceries for me.

Taking a little break for the holidays

As we're now in the last days before Christmas, I'm taking a bit of a break from blogging, to spend time with my family and finish up the holiday preparations. I'll be back right after the holiday.

Wishing you and your family a very merry Christmas.

Cooking lots of holiday treats

About a week ago, it was time to make our gingerbread men. I make these every year, but I vary the size of the men, and sometimes make gingerbread ladies, as well. Many years ago, my daughters received little baking sets, that came with tiny baking sheets, small rolling pins and tiny gingerbread men and women cutters. I saved the cutters, when they outgrew that set, and use them for cookies. I also inherited my mother's large gingerbread man cookie cutter, which I use with great sentimentality. And then there's the mid-sized gingerbread man, that I bought in an after-Christmas sale when my children were all young. I think it makes the "right" sized gingerbread man, so I do favor this one. And that's what I chose for this year, mid-sized gingerbread men. I filled a tin with gingerbread men, and had some left over to give to my son's GF.

I like the recipe from The Joy of Cooking, for gingerbread cookies, as it doesn't call for any eggs or baking powder, and very little sugar. The dough handles well, too. I can make the dough up one afternoon, refrigerate it overnight, and roll, cut and bake the cookies the next day.

Also about that time, I had some heavy whipping cream near expiry. As I mentioned before, I whipped a couple of cups and froze in mounds, to use later. But I also used 2  1/2 cups of the whipping cream to make peppermint ice cream, to serve on Christmas Day with our Buche de Noel. I really enjoyed the washing up afterwards on that one (lots of spoons, spatulas, beaters and the ice cream paddle to lick).

In addition to the heavy whipping cream, I used whole milk, a bit of sugar, pinch of salt and crushed candy canes. That's it. I didn't cook a custard, but microwaved the milk, to heat enough for the sugar and some of the crushed candy canes to dissolve, before adding the heavy cream and salt.

For our tree decorating party, I made a batch of chocolate and peppermint covered pretzels. These are pretty easy to do, and everyone in our family enjoys them. In a large bowl, I melted 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1 teaspoon of Crisco in the microwave, then tossed about 8 ounces of pretzels in the melted chocolate. I just kept adding pretzels, and tossing and tossing, until it looked like I had used all of the chocolate. I dumped the whole shebang onto a waxed paper-lined baking sheet, and separated them with a fork.

I had about 1/2 cup of Wilton peppermint melting disks in the cupboard from 2 years ago, not quite enough to make a batch of peppermint bark candy. So I thought topping the chocolate-covered pretzels with a drizzle of that stuff would be festive. I melted those with Crisco, until thin enough to drizzle over the chocolate-covered pretzels. I put the peppermint-white chocolate in a used (but clean) zip loc baggie, then snipped the corner to make the drizzling go quickly and neatly. And finally, before the chocolate and peppermint melting disks had hardened, I sprinkled the whole mass with crushed candy canes.

I still have the Buche to bake and fill. Cake rolls can be filled, rolled up and frozen until just before serving or icing. I'd like to get this done in the next few days. We'll see how that goes. I'm working on a mostly make-ahead Christmas dinner this year. I'd like to have the bulk of Christmas Day "off".

How about you? What are your favorite Christmas goodies to make? Are there any family favorites that you just can't not make?

You know this, right? Gift-wrapping on the diagonal

If you can't get the paper to wrap all the way around a gift, but it's close, try shifting the package to the diagonal on the paper.

Your wrap will resemble the layout of an envelope, on the backside.

On the front side, with many gift wraps, you wont be able to tell that the paper is wrapped parallel or diagonal around the gift. And on some wraps, the diagonal may also be more interesting (like a stripe).

Here are some slippers that I couldn't get the paper quite around, when the slippers' edge was parallel to the paper's edge. I turned the slippers to the diagonal, and they fit.

And you know this, too, right? If you run out of tape, you can raid the art supplies and use glue stick, or in some cases, skip sealing the paper, altogether, and let ribbon hold it closed.

Welcome to my home

As you come up the drive, two urns flanking the walkway to the front door. These were bare, with frozen soil. Too heavy to move to warmth, I used a mug of hot water to thaw the dirt, then a screw driver to jab holes into it, so that I could add branches of cedar and barberry, plus an outdoor bow.

At the front door sits a bench which needs repairs. Too rickety for anyone to actually sit on, but nice for placing decorative items.

If you come to the kitchen door, there's an urn, similar to the 2 urns flanking the opening to the walkway to the front. This urn was lightweight, and could be brought into the kitchen to thaw and place branches into. I used cedar, juniper, ivy, salal, barberry and cotoneaster in this planter, and another outdoor bow.

Inside the kitchen, between the two windows, a faux wreath. It lives in a box in a closet out of season, along with all of the other lasting Christmas decorations.

Out the back door, outdoor bows tied onto railing posts. the bows bought on clearance at Jo-Ann's, for 50 cents each last January.

Around the house, messages in Scrabble tiles.

A lighted garland above and around the dining room window.

The dining table centerpiece.

Several faux poinsettias, grouped together.

A faux floral arrangement (below). (I've collected these faux floral/greenery items bit by bit, on clearance, over the years. At this point, I spend very little on new items and just use what I've got stored away. When I am wanting something new, I look at what I already have, and find a new way to use the materials, or display the items.)

I can't forget what we're really celebrating.

Wishing you . . .

Saving whipping cream about to expire

You know when you have a nagging chore to take care of, but you just keep putting it off. It's not a difficult chore, but it just hasn't made it up very high on your priority list.

That's where I was the other day with taking care of some about to expire heavy whipping cream. I had turned some of it in to pumpkin ice cream to have for dessert on Thanksgiving. And I had the chilling cylinder in the freezer, waiting to make some peppermint ice cream, to save in the freezer until closer to Christmas. But it would still leave about 2 cups of heavy whipping cream needing to be used with a couple of days. I needed to whip it up and get it into the freezer.

Finally, last Wednesday, I reminded myself to just do it, then I can cross that item off my to-do list for the week, and not have it nag me again!

I did just that. I've told you how I save whipped cream, right? I whip it up with confectioner's sugar and a bit of vanilla extract.

Then I spoon it into mounds on a baking pan lined with plastic wrap. You can place these very close together, and pack quite a few onto one small pan. I did 12 mounds on a 8 X 10-inch pan.

Pop them into the freezer for several hours. Then peel them off the plastic wrap and store in a large zip lock bag in the freezer. They keep for several months. Thaw individually and they can be used to top desserts, fill cream puffs and eclairs, added to smoothies and milk shakes, top hot cocoa (you can cut the mounds in half when they're still frozen, for making smaller whip cream mounds for individual cups of cocoa), or added to homemade egg nog. I'll be adding these to eggnog in a couple of weeks. I'll make a lighter eggnog using whole milk, then after it's cooked and cooled, I'll whisk in a few thawed, whipped cream mounds to add richness.

And what do you suppose I did with the beaters, spoon and spatula? I made myself a decadent cup of chai tea, by stirring my cuppa with the utensils.

Oh, I just love marking off another item on my to-do list!

The cost of buying parchment paper for baking cake layers

The other day, live and learn brought up a good point on using waxed paper to line layer cake pans. Many people are not comfortable with the idea of the wax potentially contaminating the baked good. This is understandable. Aside from using a soy-based waxed paper, there are alternatives, such as using rounds of parchment paper to line the pan.

I actually do buy parchment paper (I mentioned using it for melting cheese shreds in the microwave last week). I buy mine at Dollar Tree, for $1.10 per roll (including tax). Each roll of this brand is 25 feet long by 12 inches wide.

If I were to use parchment to line two 8-inch diameter layer cake pans, I would use about 17 inches or less linear inches of the parchment roll. If I carefully measured and cut with scissors (instead of tearing and losing precise measuring ability), I could lay the pans on the paper closer together, and offset from each other, to maximize use of the paper.

By doing so, I could use about 15 inches of the parchment roll. There are 20  15-inch lengths of parchment on a 25-ft roll. At $1.10 per roll, each 15-inch length costs 5 1/2 cents. That's for both layer pans.

For ease of removal from the pans, that 5 1/2 cents may or may not be a good value to you. For me, I'd be willing to spend that amount to avoid the hassle of broken layers, or a stuck cake. It would give me peace of mind when in a rush, trying to get a scratch cake made for a celebration. A nickel well-spent.

And just to put it all into perspective . . .

My scratch-baked cakes cost about $1.40 for all of the ingredients (using butter, of course). So, my scratch cake layers, including using parchment would cost about $1.45 for 2 layers. Add in frosting and jam, and the finished cake is well under $3. That is still a good deal compared to buying a cake from our grocery store bakery (at about $5 or $6 for a small cake).

If you don't have a Dollar Tree in your area, I've seen parchment paper online at Amazon and at Wal Mart, for a decent price, and at discounters like Marshall's and Home Goods.

For me, waxed paper is less than half the price of parchment, and I'm happy with using waxed paper, for now. That could change, though.

In any case, the lesson that I learned, here, is to always off-set my pans on whichever type of paper I use, as I've done in the photo above. I will waste less paper, and make my money go farther.

Our kitchen table for Christmas

This is the centerpiece for our kitchen table this year.

I used the pillar candles that my step-mom gave me for my birthday this past year, free sheet music from free-scores.com (Joy to the World), ribbon from my gift ribbon box, raffia, a branch of cedar (cut into tiny sprigs) and tiny pinecones (from the baggie of pinecones and brown plaid ribbon my good friend gave to me, and that I used part of for stemware ornaments at Thanksgiving). That's it. It took me all of 20 minutes to do everything, here.

How I did it

I printed out my sheet music and cut into 3 pieces, each one to fit a different sized candle. The candles move about the house as I need them, sometimes in the living room, sometimes on the dining room table, and now on the kitchen table.

I wrapped the paper around each candle, and then wrapped a length of ribbon on top of the candle. I have taped the ribbon into place on the back side of the sheet music. Then I tied a short length of raffia around the ribbon, and trimmed the ends.

I took a small branch of cedar and clipped it into small sprigs. Then I tucked the sprigs under the candles, adding a few tiny pinecones.

Super easy, free, and fun to make. In early January, the candles will return to their neutral existence, the ribbons will return to the ribbon box, the pinecones I'll put back with the other tiny pinecones in a drawer, and the raffia, greens and sheet music will be composted. Not much to store -- a bonus.

This could be done with pillar candles set on small plates, in place of raised pillars, or clustered on a raised cake plate, or votives, set in jelly jars and gathered on a large plate or tray. I've used battery-operated pillar candles. If you plan on having the candles lit, this works best with a battery-op candle, a candle in a glass jar, or pillar candles fat enough that they burn a hollow down the core, but leave most of the sides intact. (Do not leave any lit candle unattended.)

Anyway, I just thought I'd share another of our Christmas decorations.

Is this just beginner's luck?

First of all, the winner of the $10 Starbuck's gift card. It goes to the writer of comment #11, which is Cristie Glasheen. Cristie, if you'll email me your mailing address, I'll pop this in the mail this afternoon -- email lili.mounce@gmail.com

Now on to today's post

Last June, I told you about my taking a cutting from a Christmas Cactus plant in late winter, and that it had rooted after a couple of months. (that post is here)

I later discovered that it's a Thanksgiving Cactus, not Christmas (the pointy leaves are the giveaway). But they're all part of the same plant family.

Anyways, take a look at what's developing on a couple of the leaves -- blossoms!!

I began the cutting just short of 1 year ago, and now I have blooms. Beginner's luck? Maybe!

This made me very happy to find blossoms developing, and motivated me to take another cutting a few weeks ago. I hope this next cutting does as well as the first.

Closely related to taking cuttings from my Thanksgiving cactus . . .

I took several more cuttings from my African violet. But beyond those cuttings (and this attests to my scrounging nature), a few weeks back, at one of the teas where I serve, they used African violets as the table centerpieces. Well, there were a few new to me colors on the tables. When I was asked if I'd like to take one home, instead I suggested that we let one of the other ladies take mine home, but could I please have a leaf cutting from each of the different variety/color plants. I think I took 5 cuttings, to add to the soil where I already have some rooting. I just put my plucked leaves into a zip loc baggie, then plunged them into the soil once I was home. And now I wait. I'm hoping for a couple of new colors to add to the one I already have.

Jars, jars and more jars

I've stumbled upon and reclaimed/repurposed a bunch of nice jars, lately.

A while back, I mentioned the small square jar that I snagged out of the recycle bin at a charity tea I was working. Well, very recently, I got another 2 of those jars, plus these 2 larger square jars, also from a recycling bin.

In addition, when I was checking Goodwill for goblets, I came across 4 of these jars, for 20 cents each.

I already have plans for some of these jars. The small round jars are lovely when filled with jelly or jam. I have juice and fruit in the freezer, for jam-making this month. I would like to make a batch of jam or jelly to give as gifts this Christmas.

And for those square jars, I'll be filling a couple of them with loose tea, for Christmas and hostess gifts.

I seem to have an attraction to glassware of all sorts. We opened 2 large and 2 small bottles of sparkling cider for Thanksgiving dinner. Those small ones are so cute. I can't bear to part with them. I was thinking that they would make nice votive holders for the patio, if cut them off just below the neck. I may give glass-cutting a try with a few of my saved bottles, this spring.

Easy-To-Make Gift (No Special Skills Required): Decadent Drinking Chocolate Filled Ornaments

A very quick gift to make. Decadent Peppermint Drinking Chocolate packaged in plastic ornament balls. All four of these took me about 30 minutes, total, and cost about $5.50 to make. These could be made with a less expensive cocoa mix, which would reduce the price substantially. I'm giving these to a family. But a single ball would make a nice, affordable teacher gift.

I bought the fillable ornament balls 50% off at Michael's, for 50cents each. I know Hobby Lobby has also carried these. The balls come in several sizes. For a ball which makes 1 mug of drinking chocolate, the 2.5-inch diameter ball is the right size.

There are several brands of premium, sweetened drinking chocolate on the market now. Ghirardelli has one that you can buy in the supermarket. I bought Trader Joe's version for $3.99 a tin (enough to make 7 of these balls). The drinking chocolate does not have milk in it, just sugar and chocolate or cocoa. They're meant to be mixed with milk (as opposed to something like a Swiss Miss instant cocoa). So, I added instant powdered milk, some crushed candy canes, and a little bit of finely chopped semi-sweet chocolate chips to the drinking chocolate powder.

Here's how I made them.

First, I washed the insides of the plastic balls with hot, soapy water. I turned them upside and supported each on the handle end of a plastic fork, so they could drain and dry out completely. I allowed them to dry overnight.

The next day, I began to fill the balls. I set the uncapped balls in an open egg carton, and used a plastic funnel.

I spooned the amount of drinking chocolate powder, that the tin called for, to make 3/4 cup of beverage (in this case, it was 3 tablespoons). I gently shook the ball, to level the chocolate powder.

Next, I measured in 5 tablespoons of instant powdered milk, leveling each ball after.

I crushed 1  1/2 tiny candy canes in a plastic baggie, for each ball. I shook 1/2 tablespoon of additional milk powder, with the crushed candy canes, to help keep the crushed candy dry.

I topped each of the balls with 1 tablespoon of finely chopped, semi-sweet chocolate chips (poured through the funnel slowly, to prevent clogs), and 1 more tablespoon of drinking chocolate powder.

After wiping the exterior of each ball clean, I put the ornament cap back in place, and tied a little ribbon to the top of each ornament ball.

To make 1 mug of drinking chocolate, pour the contents of 1 ball into a 12-oz mug, add 1 cup of very hot water to the mug and stir.


These are to be sent to my brother's family. I'll include a little card with instructions on how to make each cup of drinking chocolate. I think they're awfully cute, and personally would find them delightful to receive.