March Snow?

My grandson is spending a week with me, and this is a quick VLOG of what we have been up to....

We included some snow footage and a quick, fun spring art idea that can be adapted to all ages.

Southern New Year’s Day

I used the Instant Pot (electric pressure cooker) to prepare our New Year’s Day meal.

While Hoppin’ John is traditionally prepared together, those of you who read my chatter know that my daughter does not do well with certain foods.  As a result of this I often make dishes in separate pieces so everyone can have what works best for them.

I cooked my black eyed peas in home canned chicken stock with some of my dried red onion and dried bell pepper tossed in.

I added some rosemary to give it a little boost.

I like my peas soft and cooked them for 30 minutes.

If you like a little firmer, go with 20 minutes.

I transferred them to a soup tureen and put on my rice and greens.

I used kale this year.  Collards are more traditional, but I couldn’t find any that looked great to me.

I cooked these for 7 minutes on high pressure.

I pulled out bacon I had chopped and frozen to add ot the meal.

(While I do have a ham bone in the freezer, I am saving it for something specific to be shared soon.)

Last Week of 2017 Frugal Happenings

While we weren’t at home for the last week of the year, we did do several things that I consider frugal.

 1.  We turned the heat down, cleared the fridge of anything that needed to be frozen, and left everything ready for an easy return.

 2.  I packed as much of our food as I could — including pre measured seasonings, etc. to save time.  Because we were on vacation we did want to do a few easy meals.  We picked up freezer pizzas for one night’s splurge.  The cost was still less than eating out, and I had a more or less kitchen free night.  On the other days I used the pressure cooker whenever possible to free up as much time as possible.

 3.  My daughter in law and I went out briefly the day after Christmas.  We found sweaters marked down 75% off.  I picked up two for me, two for her, and two for my daughter.  (We usually save some money for after Christmas shopping.). We also found 3 pairs of  pants for my grandson.  I bought both girls a couple of tank tops for layering.  (I’m more of a turtleneck for winter kind of person.) I did buy leggings for myself and a pair of extra thick slipper socks.

 4.  We were unable to transport leftovers home easily.  We made a point to use up what we could the last day.  Then my grandson and I went out to feed the seagulls anything we thought they would eat.

5.  We boarded our pets at the vet’s office.  We opted to leave at an early hour to be able to pick them up before the long New Year’s weekend.  This saved us $132.

 6.  We ordered my text books online, and they were delivered.  I was fortunate that my soon to be brother in law was able to pick them up for me.  The cost is always less online.

 7.  We did all our laundry the night before we left.  Coming home with clean clothes is nice, and ironically it saves on my bills, too.    

Sunrise over the Atlantic

Merry Christmas!

(Image via https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4e/d7/c1/4ed7c1de407e9944dbe7d048ad719b32.png)

Packing for Vacation — Food Prep

On one hand, having food allergies is more expensive.

Some ingredients just cost more.

On the other hand, it can be quite frugal in a way....simply because you have to cook your own.

My daughter and I spent hours getting mixes, seasonings, canned and boxed items, etc. together for our upcoming vacation.

I was able to pull all of this from our food storage so that was nice.

I also have a turkey breast bought on sale at Thanksgiving that will come from the freezer.

I’m picking up my extra meats the day we leave.

When we arrive at our destination — grocery prices are higher there — I will pick up fresh fruit, eggs, and a few things like that.

Basically the items I don’t want to try to transport that far.

 Not too bad for a week’s meals of 3 a day for 6 people.

Best Christmas Gift Ever!

One of the downsides to being named Shara is that I never can find anything personalized.

This year my sister and her boyfriend gave me the best gift ever.

A monogrammed dish carrier with a 9”x13” casserole dish.

Then they added the message to the dish.

I love, love, love it.

B

Plans Change

Our plan for Sunday had been to stay home for a lazy day.  We thought we might venture out to the library, but that was about it.  Early morning we got a call from our son.  Our daughter in law has been sick and they were looking at a crazy upcoming week — including appointments with two medical specialists.  After some back and forth in conversation, it was agreed we would meet halfway and bring our grandson home with us.  We were, of course, excited to do so.    

We hadn’t been on the road more than 30 minutes when they called.  They were on their way to the ER.  We continued heading that way and told them we would just meet them there.  (They’re almost 6 hours away without Thanksgiving traffic.). We were within two hours — including mega holiday delays and accidents on I-95.  We actually got off and went back out to the coast to go up that way — when they called and said they were home.  We told them to stay put and we would just meet them at their house.  (Please send up prayers and positive thoughts for her this week.)

 Long story short, we opted to spend the night and head out early Monday morning.

 I’m hoping that knowing he is covered will allow her to rest, give her peace of mind that he is covered, and take a little stress off of them this week.    I always enjoy his visits and this visit will give me a chance to do so Christmas spoiling — so we started with putting up the tree and baking sugar cookies.

Pumpkin Cheesecake (Recipe Link included)

A week or so ago, Mama brought me two small pumpkins that she was not going to use.  They had been given to her, but she does not eat pumpkin and she thought I might like to have them.  I put them both in the XL presssure cooker — still whole.  I cooked them and then saved the flesh.  I ended up with between 5 and 6 cups of pumpkin from them.  

 I love pumpkin cheesecake and since Thanksgiving was coming up it seemed a good way to use up some of the pumpkin.

 I made this recipe — RECIPE — with a few changes. 

 I wanted a deep dish pie with a gluten free crust, so I started by making 1 1/2 times the filling.  I used reduced fat cream cheese, turbinado sugar, fresh eggs, and my home cooked pumpkin.  I added pumpkin pie spice blend instead of worrying about separates.  For the crust, I used gluten free graham crackers that I pulverized in the food processor along.  (I added a bit of melted butter.). I did not take the crust all the way up the pie because I wasn’t sure how it would handle the baking time.  I ended up baking for 45 minutes, turning the oven off, and then letting sit in a hot oven for about 10 more minutes.

I ordered the “graham” crackers from Vitacost.

While this wasn’t the most beautiful cheesecake in the world, it was delicious.

We served it with whipped cream.

Despite the cost of the crust, which is higher for gluten free products...I consider this to be a pretty frugal make this time.

Cream cheese was on sale for the holidays.

The eggs and pumpkin were free.

The spices were on hand.

If I had gone crustless it would have all but been a free dessert.

Something Sweet

For my birthday, my best friend gave me a package of mini molds.

I always miss candy around the holidays — the child in me, I think.

These are simple mound bars, but they are made with all nut free ingredients.

(Few people with nut allergies have a reaction to coconut and I am fortunate that I do not.)

Simple method:

A layer of chocolate and cool to harden.

Filling — half a bag of coconut and a can of condensed coconut milk

Cool.

Top with another layer of chocolate.  

Cool again. 

I cool each layer in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

For longer term storage I will move them to a sealed container and keep refrigerated.

I’ll be able to take them out just a little before serving to soften up some.

I know we won’t eat them all quickly because they are super rich, so I will actually freeze some of them to take out later.

Stock Up for Thanksgiving Week

We had a wonderful week with our grandson.  I had forgotten how lively a four year old makes life.  He and I spent some time watching some cooking videos.  Afterwards he decided he wanted to try one of the recipes — sweet potato carbonara.  We did, and he even tried the results.  He said they were “okay, but not his favorite”. LOL. Soooo grown!  I, on the other hand, loved it.

This is the recipe we used.

Sweet Potato Carbonara

Saturday we met his parents halfway, and he headed home.

I miss him....but I must confess I went to bed early Saturday night.

Sunday I went ahead and picked up groceries for the week.

I forgot to photograph it, but I picked up four things from Aldi:

A ham (my contribution to our extended family Thanksgiving Dinner)

A box of candy canes to go with hot cocoa

A pie plate ($6.99 to replace the one I broke and in my favorite red)

1 box of Aldi brand sodas for my daughter

Total was $19.45

Then I did my stock up for the week at Lidl.  

2 cartons of milk

Coffee creamer

Ricotta cheese

Shredded Parmesan cheese

Cottage cheese

Red onions

Celery

Spaghetti squash

Eggplant

Bananas (organic because the others looked riper that I like)

Zucchini

Avacadoes

Cauliflower

Bella Mushroom Slices

Kiwi

English cucumber

Mint plant — a splurge for myself.  I love fresh mint.

Watermelon

In my effort to use down things, over the last few weeks I had used up every freezer/storage type bag I had.

The freezer bags are for portioning items out and for freezing leftovers.

The sandwich and snacks bags seem to be the most convenient way to pack my daughter’s lunches.

For lunches for daughter:

Chocolate oreos (I make her snack pack sizes in the bags)

Turkey for sandwiches

For the coffee lovers and pantry storage:

2 bags of mocha and mint coffee

4 boxes of stevia

1 can of decaf coffee

Total spent $70.38

My family will be home for 5 days straight and that means larger meals.

I had plenty of meats, grains, pastas, and canned items.

I really wanted plenty of fresh items on hand, too.

(We already had apples, carrots, broccoli, and bell pepper.

I have plenty of fresh eggs — a gift from my brother.

Plenty of popcorn and snack type items.

So basically I think we are set for the week and into next week.)

Holiday Baking — Ready or Not, Here it Comes

The holiday season is coming.  It always does whether I am ready or not.   😏. This year I am determined to be ready.  Starting early November we have a slew of celebrations.  We have three birthdays within the first two weeks of November.  My husband’s family is coming to visit for a long weekend.  Thanksgiving will be in there somewhere.  Then in December we have all the Christmas festivities. This year we have rented a beach condo for the holidays and I will be packing all our food.  With all that in mind, I’ve decided to practice a few easy desserts to make sure I can pull together one or two items that will work for the whole family.  I do not intend to be cooking multiple separate meals.

I ordered these books, along with three more I’ll share soon, from Thrift Books.  

I paid total for the 5 books less than one book cost new.

Like most gluten free books do, these contain some recipes I cannot use because of the nut content, but all in all I believe I will be able to use most of them.  

I’m quite used to “regular baking” by the seat of my pants, but I am still not ready to do that with gluten free products.

I don’t feel like I have perfected the ratios.

My town does have some options for gluten free products.

The Aldi has a small selection;  the Walmart Neighborhood Market does, too.

A couple of the nicer stores do, but I have difficulties frequenting them because of the fresh seafood counters.

After carefully reading over the recipes and some online searching, I decided to take advantage of a Vitacost coupon.

I was able to order my baking supplies for 20% off and receive free shipping.

I opted to order spice cake mixes because of their versatility....I’m dreaming of cake doughnuts, pumpkin muffins, carrot cake, chocolate chip muffins, and gingerbread.  However, what I really wanted was the flours to create the “base” for most of the muffins and desserts.

When it was all said and done there is about $55 worth of supplies there.

Not the most inexpensive, but not bad as far as the cost of gluten free flours go.

We have tried the Namaste all purpose blend and while it is okay, I am hoping we will like this homemade version better.

If we don’t then I’ll either go back to the Namaste or perhaps try another blend.

The nut and peanut allergies limit the varieties I can buy, so I have high hopes for homemade version.

I’m not affiliated with Vitacost in anyway, but I will say that I love how easy they are to shop from.

I also love that they do a quick turn around on shipping.  

I placed my order Tuesday evening, and it arrived by Thursday morning.

A Day Trip

Today we packed a picnic and took a drive to see this grand old lady.

Benvenue was built in 1844 and remodeled in 1889.

She's a Victorian beauty!

The plantation (house grounds) include a kitchen, a one room school room, smokehouses, a former post office, and several other outbuildings including a green house.

She's privately owned -- luck family.

I should have baked a cake to take and been brave enough to knock on the door.

Labor Day Weekend

We're having a quiet weekend at home.

Since the weather is rainy and blah I'm planning to read, crochet and watch movies.

The bottom five books are for research for a current project.

The top three books are for pleasure reading.

For the movies, we have decided to do a James Bond themed weekend.

As far as the crocheting goes, I'm working on a "Lost Souls" skull shawl.

How many days until Christmas?

I always start January with the best of intentions.  I promise myself things like "I'll make a gift each month" or some such nonsense. It just never seems to happen.  Tax season starts, other holidays roll around, birthdays come and go, and life just gets busy.   

 I saw Anne's post (found here) on how to make Christmas boxes from old cards, and I immediately asked myself how many days until Christmas.  It wasn't that I hadn't been thinking about it, because I actually had.  When my children were little we had a tradition of holding a week-long Christmas in July celebration.  We made Christmas cookies, watched Christmas movies, and listened to Christmas carols.  I don't have any little ones at home anymore, but that didn't stop me from listening to my favorite carols and crocheting. 

 I now have two people marked off of my list.  A sister-in-law and my sister.  I'm sharing a photo of the gift for my sister-in-law, but since my sister reads my blog, you'll just have to take my word on her gift until Christmas comes around.

This red doily is all starched and blocked.  One of my sister-in-laws loves the color red so this is perfect for her.

This yummy blue is called Peacock.

Truthfully, I wasn't sure about the color on the spool, but the more I crocheted with it, the more I fell in love with it.

Now I just can't decide if I want to part with it or not.

My sister's gift is just waiting to be packaged and I'll mark these two off my list.

Birthday Girl (and Recipe)

I cannot believe my baby is 20 years old today.

The years are flying by so quickly.

She's swamped with school work as her summer semester nears it end.

As a result, we aren't having an official family dinner, but everyone is gathering for dessert.

This is our first attempt at a brownie swirl cheesecake.

(Full disclosure, I buy brownies mixes for somewhere around $1 each.  My boxes are about double the size called for.  I simply baked the other half of the batter in muffin tins while I baked the crust.  I let the muffins finish while the crust cooled since they took longer.)

Brownie Swirl Cheesecake

(With my notes in parentheses)

1 (8 oz) package of brownie mix -- see comment above photo (I used a mocha brownie mix)

2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, softened (I used one reduced fat and one full fat.)

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 cup of milk chocolate chips, melted (in the future, I will drop this to 3/4 cup)

Prepare brownie mix according to the package.  

Spread into a greased 9 inch spring form pan.

Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes.  (Will not test done.)

Cool for 10 minutes on a wire track.

Meanwhile, mix cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla well.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.

Pour over the brownie crust.

Top with melted chocolate and swirl through the cream cheese filling.

Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or until center is almost set.

Run a knife around the edge to loosen.  

Let cool completely on a wire rack.

When cool, refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Serve as is, or with your choice of whipped cream and fruit.

Easy (Portion Controlled) Cheesecake

For an easy Mother's Day dessert we made these simple cheesecake cups.

I found them on Pinterest and changed them to match my allergy allowances.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Put 6 silicone cups in a muffin tin and put 2 vanilla wafers in the bottom of each cup.

In a bowl mix, 

8 ounces of softened cream cheese

1 egg

1/3 cup of powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon of vanilla

2 teaspoons of lemon juice

Fill the muffin cups and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until set.

Cool for about 10 minutes in the pan.  Remove from pan and refrigerate.

Serve with (or without) topping of your choice.

Christmas in March?

For years I've had this fabric lingering in my stash.  I bought it from a little mom and pop fabric store and had great intentions of making Christmas themed placemats with it.  Every year I've pulled it out near the holiday season and not had time to make them up.  This year I decided to break that cycle. I used the "printed" fabric to help me practice my machine quilting.  Now they are ready and waiting for Christmas 2017.

Operation Minnie

Operation Minnie has commenced! My youngest niece will be two in April, and she loves Mickey and Minnie Mouse.   This project is one of my goals for this month.

The plan is to make her Minnie for her birthday and then to make Mickey for her Christmas present.

I'm hoping to find the gumption to go ahead and also make Mickey this month to put aside.

Time will tell.

Sewing Again and Question

When I was pulling through my fabric stash looking for curtain material,  I found some St. Patrick's Day themed fabrics.  These were leftovers from many years ago. I used them when my children were young for holiday themed pillows and things of the sort.  

I decided to make a quick table runner and 4 napkins.  I only had enough of the clover fabric to make luncheon sized napkins that were just shy of 12 inches when finished.  That's okay.  They'll work perfectly for what we need.

Cost was paid a long time ago, and I consider this a freebie.

However, I almost cried.  I've used up all of my spool of favorite green thread.

On one hand that is good, because I know my "use it up" policy is working.

On the other hand, I love the color green and can't believe I am out.

Anyone know the most economical way to buy sewing thread?