Pool Noodle Fun - Without the Pool!

Family Fun magazine has been a favorite around here for over 10 years. If you've never heard of it, you should check it out here. It's packed with all the kid stuff you could ever need. Before Pinterest, I had an entire 2" binder devoted solely to Family Fun articles, recipes, and activities. I'm now, slowly, moving those all over to Pinterest. This summer they had a great article about how to make outdoor games and obstacle courses with pool noodles.

I think my 17-year-old and I had as much fun with these as the little ones did. It was super easy and by buying the noodles at the dollar store, under $20. I wish we had been able to play with them more, but with the weather being so hot this summer, we were kind of an indoor bunch. I hope they stand up to the weather and that we can use them next summer.

Pinterest Review - Tub & Shower Magic

MCCALL MAGAZINE COVER, GIRL IN RAIN, a photo by George Eastman House on Flickr.

I made the Tub & Shower Magic that I found here. I LOVE cleaning with vinegar. I just wasn't sure about all of that Dawn...So, here's what I found. I mixed up the solution with a 13oz of vinegar and a 10.3oz bottle of Dawn. The only reason that I did it this way, instead of equal parts, is because of the size of the bottle of Dawn. As a side note, which will help in making this recipe even cheaper, Walgreen's regularly runs this size of Dawn on sale for 99 cents (I price match at WalMart to save the trip) and you can almost always find a 50 cents off Dawn coupon monthly in the Sunday coupon circulars.


The cleaner worked really well. My tub and shower tiles sparkled. However, it was VERY thick! And, you can imagine, there were quite a lot of suds and I spent a good deal of time rinsing and re-rinsing to get the bubbles down the drain. So, after I'd used it a few times, I added about 4 more ounces vinegar to the bottle. It worked just as well.

After using this cleaner for months, I recommend a solution of closer to 3-5oz. of Dawn or any other dish detergent and the rest vinegar. This is a more cost effective solution while being just as adequate a cleaner without all the suds.

Eat What You Have Days 26-30

Day 26 - We had yet another Thanksgiving dinner on the 26th!

Day 27 - This would have been our monthly Fellowship Meal at church, but, with everybody getting over their coughs, we decided to go ahead and keep our funk to ourselves and eat the food we would ahve prepared at home.  We had Baked Penne.  Basically, I layer pasta, sauce with crumbled Italian sausage, and mozzarella cheese and bake for 30 or so minutes at 375 degrees.

Day 28 - Slow-cooked Tex-Mex Chicken and Beans  I omit the chilies in adobo.  In my opinion, their flavor is a bit overwhelming and they are messy!


Day 29 - Leftover night

Day 30 - Seriously, I've looked over my menu, and I CAN NOT, for the life of me, remember what we had this night.  Way to go out with a bang, huh?

We are semi-continuing the Eat What You Have challenge.  Basically, I am keeping a list of all the meats and pantry items that I have, making my menu from that, and getting creative with ingredients.  I did make my monthly Sam's trip for toilet paper, pasta, juice, fruit, staples, and things of that sort.  Beyond that, I've set a goal of spend less than 50% of our grocery budget for this month.  I'll let you know how we've fared at the end of the month!

Grocery shopping

I've heard lots of different opinions from lots of different people on which grocery store is "best."  I say the one that gives you the best value.  I had a real eye opener this week and it is not the first or second time that this has happened to me.  I had to buy some milk, eggs, juice, fruit, potatoes - those sorts of things this week, along with a few items to make special holiday dishes.  I went through all of the ads, checked prices, gathered coupons, and made my list to take to Wal-Mart for price matching. Eight of the ten items on my price match list were cheaper at Wal-Mart than the other stores' sale prices.

 I don't want to shop at a store that lures me in with loss leaders only to charge me more for everything else.  I don't want to pay more for my groceries for the ambiance and a Starbucks - which is just going to charge you for one cup what you should be paying for a whole can.  I want to spend as little as possible on the products my family needs and use the money left over to save for a family vacation or a new HVAC or a date night.  That's my 2 cents.

Eat What You Have - Days 17-25

It's been over a week now and I'm sitting here wishing I had written all of this out sooner.  I'm sure I'll forget something.  I hope you can forgive me.

Day 17 - Baked Tomato Casserole I did not, in fact, have any mac and cheese reserved, but I went ahead and made some myself.  For those fans of the boxed stuff, because It's "easier" try making it from scratch once and I promise you the difference in flavor is worth the extra few minutes.  I also doubled the recipe and had plenty of leftovers.

Day 18 - Spiral sliced ham, mashed potatoes, Mediterranean-style green beans, and homemade bread.  For the green beans, saute 1/2 diced onion in 1 Tbsp of olive oil.  Add 1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes, 2 cans cut green beans, 2 tsp dried basil,  1-2 cloves minced garlic, and salt & pepper to taste.  Cook until heated through.

Day 19 - Leftovers

Day 20 - Sunday "Eating Out" Day

Day 21 - Date Night - woo hoo!

Day 22 -  Another leftover night

Day 23 - Ham & egg scramblers with potatoes and cheese - peel, cube, boil, and drain 1lb. of potatoes; Heat 1 Tbsp oil on med-high in a large skillet, add potatoes and cook until golden brown.  Add about 1/2lb. cubed or shredded ham and 1dz eggs, stirring to combine; Cook until eggs are cooked through, add 1 to 1 1/2c shredded cheese.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Day 24  - Turkey and fixin's

Day 25 - Bruschetta chicken bake This is a great way to use up Thanksgiving leftovers!

Eat What You Have - Days 12 - 16

Alright, we are halfway there and, honestly, and don't hold me to this, I'm thinking about spilling this little experiment over into December. Apparently I was stocked a bit better than even I was aware!  As December approaches, I'll let you know my final decision.

Day 12 - Schnitzel with noodles!  I'm venturing you just heard one of two things in your head just now 1. an oompah band or 2. Fraulein Maria singing "Favorite Things."  I tend toward the latter.  As a matter of fact, I was whistling the song while cooking the meal.  Schnitzel is, basically, a meat cutlet (we used boneless pork), pounded thin, dipped in egg, then breaded and fried.  I bread mine in a mixture of bread crumbs with salt, garlic powder, pepper, and dried parsley.  They are typically served with egg noodles or spaetzle.  I threw in some lima beans for good measure.

Photo credit

Day 13 - Our Sunday "Eating Out" day

Day 14 - This was brilliant and I can not take credit.  All credit goes to my children and husband here.  The kids asked for spaghetti, though it wasn't on the menu.  I had the ingredients on hand and was willing to make it - without the meat, since it was unplanned.  My husband wanted meat and suggested we use the leftover schnitzel and make Pork Parmesan!  It was so beautiful that I took a picture.

They ate every bite.

Day 15 - My mom had all of the little guys, so we decided to have a cereal night...

Day 16 - Tonight we will be having Thai Lemon Beef. A favorite in the Hodges house!

Photo: J. Savage Gibson; Styling: Trinda Gage

Eat What You Have Days 9-11

Untitled, a photo by 19/77 on Flickr.

So, we have smooth sailing 'round 'ere to be a third of the way through the month. Our stores are still looking pretty good. I've had to make one run to the grocery for milk and fruit, other than that, we've not really noticed any difference! Yay!

On Day 9 we had Cornbread and Beef Skillet Pie. The only adaptations I made were 1. omitting the mushrooms 2. adding some oregano to the beef mixture and 3. baking it in a 9 x 13 pan. I've also made this with garlic instead of onion, added some basil to the beef mixture, and some Parmesan cheese to the cornbread - pretty yummy!

On Day 10, we had Honey Mustard Smoked Sausage and Potatoes. It started out as this recipe. We have made several changes each time we've made it. I make my own honey mustard as needed. Honey + dijon mustard - it's not rocket science. It's much cheaper than buying prepared honey mustard and takes up less space in your fridge. I rarely keep dry white wine in the house. I usually make it with a wheat beer, at least that is my favorite way. Last night, I made it with brandy - not as good as beer, but tasty nonetheless. I also tend to use russet potatoes, because they are cheap and I usually have them on hand.

On Day 11, we ate up the leftovers from the past few nights. Tonight is the first time in a LONG time that I can remember having not one container of leftover food in the fridge.

Eat What You Have Days 4-8

Turkey, a photo by powerpig set-ups on Flickr.

Sorry for the delay.  I had every intention of catching everyone up on our pantry project 2 days ago.  I picked up the laptop, logged on, and completely forgot why in the world I had gotten on there in the first place!  It came to me this morning and, well, here I am.

On Friday, the 4th, we had smoked sausage with spinach, red onion, and homemade mac and cheese.  On Saturday , the 5th, we celebrated my Mother-in-law's birthday with dinner at my sister & brother-in-law's house.  We typically get carry out on Sundays, so we picked up a Papa Murphy's pizza.  Using a $3 off coupon from a fund raising card sold by our eldest's football team, it cost us about $11 and we had enough left over to feed 2 of us on leftover night (the 8th). This all makes me sound like a cheater, so here is the recipe from last night:

Chicken and dressing casserole

ingredients:

1 1/2- 2lbs boneless skinless chicken breast

salt and pepper

1 tsp dried basil

3 Tbsp butter, divided

2 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1 tsp dried parsley

8 cups cubed white bread

3 1/2 c chicken broth

1 tsp rubbed sage

3 1/2 Tbsp flour

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Place chicken breast in a pot and just cover with water.  Add salt, pepper, and basil to water.  Bring to a boil and boil until cooked through. (I often use this when I've forgotten to lay meat out early enough.  Not only do you get the chicken cooked, but you get some broth!) Remove chicken from broth and cut into chunks. Reserve broth.  Add chicken chunks and one Tbsp vegetable oil to a skillet and cook over med-high until browned, about 4-6 minutes.  Sprinkle with flour and stir to cover.  Add 1 1/2c chicken broth to skillet and stir until thickened and bubbly.  Pour into the bottom of a lightly greased 9 x 12 pan.

2. Melt one Tbsp of butter with one Tbsp of vegetable oil in a large skillet; Add the celery, onion, and parsley and cook over med-high heat until tender, about 8-10 minutes.  Remove from heat; add bread cubes and 2 cups of reserved broth; gently stir to combine.  Spread evenly on top of chicken mixture and dot with remaining butter.  Bake at 425 until dressing is browned and casserole is bubbly, about 20-25 minutes.


My guys like this served with mashed sweet potatoes.  I peel, cube, and boil 4lbs of sweet potatoes until they can be easily pierced with a fork.  I drain them and place them in my stand mixer (a hand mixer works, too) with a stick of butter, a cup a light brown sugar, and a Tbsp of cinnamon.  This really should be a dessert!

Eat What You Have - Day 3

I wasn't sure how tonight was going to go over.  My guys usually love breakfast for dinner, but we are talking biscuits and gravy breakfast for dinner and I go and pull this.  I kept my fingers crossed and it seemed to be a hit!  Woo hoo!  It really was quite yummy, though I think it is more likely to end up in our Saturday morning breakfast rotation than on our usual dinner menu.  I had the twins split a serving. All plates were cleaned, and the skillet was empty at the end of the meal. If our 16 year-old lineman were here tonight I would have doubled this recipe, but, as it stands, it only cost about $5.25!  If you try it, let me know what you think.

Potato Hash with Spinach and Eggs

Ingredients:
1lb white potatoes, cut into 1/4" chunks (I left the skin on mine)
salt
3TBSP unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded & chopped
red pepper flakes to taste (I used about 1/2tsp - the twins said it was too spicy...A added Cajun seasoning...)
10oz package fresh spinach
8 large eggs

1. In a large, heavy skillet with a lid, bring potatoes to a boil in salted water on high; Cook until potatoes are tender, about 5 minutes, Drain and set aside.
2. In skillet, melt 2TBSP butter over med-high.  Add onion and bell pepper, salt.  Cook until softened, about 12 minutes. Add potatoes and red pepper flakes and cook until browned, about 3 minutes.
3. Add 1TBSP butter to potato mixture and add spinach, a handful at a time, stirring until wilted, salt.  Make 4 wells  in the mixture.  Crack 2 eggs into each well and reduce heat to med-low.  Cover and cook until whites are set, but yolks are still runny, about 6-8 minutes.  Serve immediately. Serves 4

Modified from Martha Stewart Everyday Food

Eat What You Have - Day 2

Alright, time to roll up our sleeves...an honest to goodness recipe!  Tonight we are having Chicken Cacciatore with Parmesan polenta. For any of you non-cookers out there, don't let the fancy name scare you.  It's chicken stew over cheesy cornmeal mash.  I've found that if you give a dish a fancier name in my house, not only do my boys assume I've toiled much harder over it, they assume they are getting something really special and are much more likely to gobble it up.  Trust me, you WILL have to employ this move later in the month with beans and rice.

Chicken Cacciatore with Parmesan polenta
Ingredients:
3 TBSP olive oil
12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
salt and pepper
1 TBSP dried oregano
10oz mushrooms, sliced
1/3c all purpose flour
1 28oz can diced tomatoes
1c dry wine (I'm using white tonight, but I have used red & it was just as delicious)
2 medium onions, quartered
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/3c pitted green olives
1 12oz jar quartered & marinated artichoke hearts
1 1/4c cornmeal
1/2c grated Parmesan cheese


1. In a Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat 3TBSP oil over med-high.  Season chicken with salt and pepper.  Sear chicken, until browned, 6-8 minutes, working in batches; transfer to a plate.
2. Add mushrooms to pot; cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, 2-3 minutes.  Add flour, and cook, stirring, 1 minute.  Add tomatoes, wine, oregano, onions, garlic, olives, and chicken (with any juices).  Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer, and cook until chicken is cooked through, 15-20 minutes.  Stir in artichokes during last 5 minutes of cooking.  Season with salt and pepper.
3. While stew is cooking, in a large saucepan combine 7 cups water, 2 teaspoons coarse salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; bring to a boil over high heat. Whisking constantly, gradually add cornmeal. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer polenta, whisking frequently, until thickened and creamy, 10 to 15 minutes.  Remove from heat stir in butter, milk, and Parmesan.  Polenta will thicken upon standing.  Serve chicken over polenta.  Serves 6.


Modified from Martha Stewart Everyday Food

Eat What You've Got - Day 1

So, in the spirit of eating what you've got, we kicked off big by having, what else? Leftovers!  We had pizza left over from Sunday and did not want it to go to waste.  Since we'd had a hectic day, we warmed it up and started the month off right!  Day One?  Check!

Get ready!!

It is that time of year.  Any of you who have known me for any length of time know that the month of November has become "Eat What You Have" month at our house.  It is the month when I only go to the grocery for things like milk, eggs, and fresh fruits & veggies.  I will also buy a turkey or two when they get under 50 cents a pound (who can pass that up!?).  You can then use your excess grocery budget to add to Christmas this year, fund a special project, pad your savings, or pay down your debt!  I'll be posting what we have daily.  I think it would be fun if some of you would, as well.  So, scan your shelves, pantries, fridges, and freezers!  Join me in the 3rd annual "Eat What You Have" month.

Pinching the pennies until they scream

I am a very frugal woman. I watch our budget closely. We spend very little and I am always looking for ways to shave from our spending here and there. I'm sure there will be some posts soon about ways in which I save money, but, for now, let's talk coupons.

I checked out a book from the library the other day titled Cut Your Grocery Bill In Half With America's Cheapest Family by the Economides. Seriously...that is their name. I read their first book and it was full of money-saving tips. I open this book. I'm rubbing my hands. I can't wait for the juicy tidbits that are going to save my family hundreds a month. Then...the first page. The ugly little number. The average American family spends $170 per person, per month on groceries. Boo. I'm already at half, if not less per person. The wind came right out of my sails. I was going to have to look for other ways.

I jumped over to Money Saving Mom. The last time I tried to work through the price matching/couponing going on over there, the twins were still in diapers and I didn't make it very far. I was ready this time. I read the Store Deals, made my lists, and readied my coupons.

OK, wait, I made that sound WAY too easy. It really took me several hours to get it all together. That was just for two stores. I decided that the Register Rewards and proximity to my house of Walgreen's was too good to pass up. For all the other deals, Wal-Mart will price match not only identical products, but also their store brand for another store's brand. For instance, if Office Max has Office Max brand of paper folders for 1 cent, Wal-Mart will let me have their brand of paper folders for 1 cent. Amazing. Add any coupons on top of those prices and I'm hoping my grocery budget will plummet.

I made my way into Walgreen's, found the items on my list, save one that had already sold out, checked out, $17 spent and went home. I sat down to check my items against my list and something just didn't add up. I was supposed to have $9 in Register Rewards and I only had $6. What went wrong? I got the ads out. I bought the wrong type of toothbrush!! Jeez!

I went back to Walgreen's, which I had planned on doing anyway to use my Register Rewards and because I was buying 2 of one item and wanted to get Register Rewards for both of them. That doesn't happen if you buy them both in the same trip. (That may sound more confusing than it really is...) I easily exchanged the toothbrush, got the $3 Register Reward taken off the order, paid with a $5 Register Reward from the trip that morning, and 65 cents out of pocket. I also got another $1 Register Reward. I could get used to this...

Here is what I got in the 2 trips for somewhere in the neighborhood of $18 with $2 in Register Rewards still in my pocket:

2 Oral B Complete Deep Clean Toothbrushes

Crest Complete Deep Clean Toothpaste

4 Large Bags of M&Ms

2 Boxes Playtex Tampons

3 Cans Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup

2 Bags Dove Minis Dark Chocolates

That night, I went to Wal-Mart and bought only great price match and coupon deals. I'll spare you the list. Just out of curiosity, I went over my receipt after I got everything put away to see what everything would have cost me if I had paid Wal-Mart prices without coupons. It would have cost around $145. I spent $75.

I can see where all of this will cost a bit more up front - stockpiling, building up Register Rewards, and most importantly in my time with familiarizing myself with "the system," but I can also see where it will lower our grocery bills in the long run by allowing us to wait for the lowest price possible before buying or paying nothing at all. It will also allow us to give more items to others in need. I believe that will be worth the investment.