A Few Things from the Kitchen

An attempt at cake doughnuts.

They weren’t pretty,but they tasted good.

Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers and Rosemary Potatoes

Gluten free Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Biscuits

Frugal Happenings for the Week Beginning 1/20/19

Sunday

• We had company.  My husband and one of our nephews went to see a matinee, which is at a reduced price.  I opted to not go because I am not crazy about the noise level in movie theaters, and I am not particularly interested in Sci-Fi movies.  
• Our daughter came over and joined us all for supper.  I used a coupon and ordered pizza.  There was enough leftover to send home with her for another meal.
• I worked in my planners (life gets busy this time of year) and used mostly Dollar Tree products in the "decoration."
• My daughter and I went to Michaels and bought a few stickers.  We used a $20 off of $50 to keep our costs down.  She has recently gotten busy enough that she is planning too.  However, she hasn't had time to slowly build up a supply of stickers.  This gave us a chance to find her a good selection at a discounted price.  Plus it was a great short trip for just us girls.

Monday

• We made the trip back to my home county.  Since we were on the road we shared a meal.  
• I used up the last of a few cleaning supplies tidying our home away from home.
• I ran several loads of laundry, but was able to consolidate at least two of them.  
• We loaded the car down with food to bring with us.  It may not sound frugal, but one of the downsides to rural living is that everything is more expensive and limited.  Bringing with us cuts down the amount I spend considerably.
• We gassed up before we came on into the county.  We just buy gas locally unless we are on the road, but again it is cheaper out of the county.  (I'm sure in part to the cost of them delivering to this area.)
• The temperature was bitterly cold, and we dressed accordingly rather than crank up the heater to a higher setting.

Tuesday

• Again it was bitterly cold.  I took various canned veggies and started a pot of vegetable soup with beans for a healthy protein.  
• When the sun came out good, I opened the blinds and curtains to take advantage of the solar heat.  
• I needed to wash curtains, but waited until almost sundown since I knew I would be drying them in the dryer.  The added heat helped warm the house.
• I served leftover soup from lunch for our supper and baked a pan of gluten free biscuits to go with the soup.  Since the oven was on anyway I baked a pantry peach crisp (using canned peaches).
• We went to Dollar General to pick up a few items I needed for the kitchen here — cinnamon, mayo, baking powder, sugar, and some plastic measuring cups and spoons.

Wednesday

• The temperature went back up.  When the sun was out I opened the blinds up.
• I used leftover biscuits from supper as the start of breakfast.
• I shampooed another of the carpets....at considerable savings.  (I’m two rooms down and slowly working my way through the house.)
• I batched cooked 2 pounds of ground turkey, which allowed me to get a head start on a couple of meals and take advantage of larger packaging sizes at a better price.
• I used scrap paper for note taking.

Thursday

• A rainy, dreary day and we had to be out.  Rather than double trip distances we saved gas by me waiting in the car at my husband's office for an hour before our errand.  I took advantage of the time to catch up on some phone calls and to work on a knitting project. 
• I used the crockpot for pasta sauce and then baked a spaghetti squash as the day progressed.  The oven helped warm the house.

Friday

• No spend day.  No traveling.  No anything.  My husband did request a change in menu plan and wanted "junk" food.  I was able to pull fries and hotdogs from our food supplies -- so we had fast food at a far lower cost than eating out.
• Because I knew I would have to use the dryer, I opted to run laundry late at night when the extra heat would be appreciated.  Made for a late night because the last load didn't come out until almost midnight, but the added warmth was nice, and the heater didn't kick on and off as much.

Saturday

• Another no spend day.  Lunch let me use up a jar of home canned soup.  Supper I used up  the leftover pasta sauce to make a baked zucchini dist.

Big Mac in a Bowl (New to Us Recipe)

I’m not a huge Big Mac fan, but my husband loves them.  We decided to try this recipe.

http://healthytofit.org/big-mac-in-a-bowl-healthy-and-fit/

It was a hit.  I even enjoyed them.  I did make a few changes.  I used ground turkey, which I cooked with onions and bell pepper added.  I seasoned it with garlic powder, salt, and pepper.  We also used a regular Thousand Island Dressing.

Batch Cooking Ground Turkey — Mini Cooking Session

I haven’t really felt the need to do huge cooking days since I am only cooking for two right now.

However, I still like to do some meal prep.  Now I am mostly just doubling or tripling when I cook.

I took 2 pounds of ground turkey and divided it for four meals.

I seasoned this with bell pepper, onion, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to keep it kind of generic.

I made one meatloaf for the freezer.  I’ll cook this in the crockpot when I cook it.

I kept one portion out for Big Mac in a Bowl (recipe share coming tomorrow) — I kept this warm in the crockpot until supper time.

One portion went into the refrigerator — it will go in pasta sauce to serve over spaghetti squash.

The last portion went into the freezer and will either go in chili, a “hamburger” helper, or another pasta dish.  

Gluten Free Cheese Crackers

The gluten free cheese cracker recipe I used is here.

https://realfoodrn.com/gluten-free-cheez-it-crackers/amp/

As always I made a few changes —
I used Better Batter flour and salted butter (was on sale a while back).
I would also use either a sharper cheese or a little more cheese next time.
(I’m wondering how they would do with the addition of a little powdered cheese for kick.  Might be a way to use a macaroni and cheese mix and have the pasta for another dish.  Not certain.)

Crocheting for Myself

One of my friends (Thanks Jenn!) shared a link to a crocheted sweater pattern that is basically two hexagon granny "squares"  with a little alteration.  This time of year I wear heavy sweaters day and night, and this pattern looks like it should be warm.  I decided to start one for myself.  I'm using a red acrylic yarn -- in deference to my husband's wool allergies and because it is machine washable and dryable.  Red because it is a color that makes me happy.

The original pattern is here:

https://makeanddocrew.com/day-date-easy-crochet-sweater-pattern/

Too Good to Pass Up

We always try to keep a little extra set aside in my grocery funds so that if a “too good to pass up” opportunity comes along we can take advantage of it.  Like a lot of areas, our local Aldi upgraded, but for some reason it feels as if their produce and general stock has gone down.  Also of concern to me is that a lot of labels have changed.....perhaps different distribution centers?

This week Lidl mailed out coupons for up to $40 off of $200.  I decided to take advantage of it and restock some of my pantry items while I was picking up this week’s produce and fresh items.  I also picked up somethings for my daughter.  Since I was by myself I didn’t try to photograph everything.

The cookies and toaster strudels are to go to my daughter’s place.  The canned and jarred items are for the pantry.  She can have any she wants.  The large box has various items like rice, pickles, applesauce, olives, roasted red peppers, chips, rice cakes, oils, foil, freezer bags, etc.  I also bought some herbs and seasonings, extracts, and a few items like that.  

What I did not get photographed was the refrigerator items.  I bought milk, eggs, cheeses (multiples of various kinds) lemons, apples, spaghetti sauqsh , potatoes, onions, mushrooms, bacon, kielbasa, and chicken.