Posted in Tightwad Tuesdays

Happy Tuesday, and welcome back to Tightwad Tuesday with Canadagirl!  If you have a money-saving tip that works well for you and that you'd like to share with us, please do head over and visit Mary to get started.

My tip for today is short, photo-less, and pretty unglamorous, but it's such a helpful little thing, especially in light of decreased home school budgets.  I believe that selling used home school curricula on eBay is unavailable any longer if you have the 'answer' key or teacher's text with it (unless that policy changed again - I don't use eBay, so I don't know much about it), so what's a home educating mother to do?  You could try to sell it locally, or, to reach a larger audience and get top dollar for it, you could use Homeschool Classifieds.  Homeschool Classifieds is a site FULL of curricula for sale, all by home schooling parents.  I both buy and sell my books there; where else can I support another home schooling family while having my own home schooling family supported?  It's a wonderful thing, and it works for me.  Ü

Posted in Tightwad Tuesdays

Today is Tightwad Tuesday with Canadagirl, so I thought that I would share my recent shopping trip for winter clothing.  Whether we are still here in the desert come winter, or in a snowy clime, we still need warm clothing.  Many of you visit the desert during the winter months, bringing with you bathing suits, shorts, and t-shirts.  You then proceed to look at the natives strangely when you see us in our sweaters, cords, and jackets.  Trust me when I tell you we think *you* are the strange ones, lol.  After our bodies have acclimated to 115° weather, temperatures in the mid-50's to mid-60's are chilly indeed.  If you throw in some winter rain, it gets downright cold.

After taking inventory of our clothing, I realized we were seriously low on warm clothing, and headed off to the thrift store with Piper a couple of Saturdays back when they were having a 50% off everything sale.  You know those shopping trips where you either have the money and can't find anything, or don't have the money and see everything you want?  Well, this was the shopping trip that combined the best of both those experiences.  I had the money, and we found wonderful buys. 

 Here are the clothes I found for me:

Here are the clothes I found for my men:

All told, I got 37 total pieces of clothing for $108.  13 of those items were sweaters, and one was a skirt.  The rest were long-sleeved shirts, ranging from everyday variety to dressier pieces.  Just by shopping the thrift store on their sale day, I saved $108!  Assigning the following values, which I consider to be average prices, here is what I estimate I saved at retail price:  long-sleeved shirt ($15) x 14= $210, sweaters ($20) x 13= $260, skirt ($15) x 1= $15.  This leads to a total of $485, which I consider to be on the low side considering there are items of clothing in there with tags reading "Christian Dior," "Ralph Lauren, Chaps," and "Aeropostale."  Even at that modest sum, however, I saved at least $377!  There is absolutely no difference in any of these items of clothing from anything brand new I would have purchased off the rack except a washing or two.  That's it.

Well, now we're good to head into the cooler months, or a snowy clime, and we won't freeze to death.  Ü  If you have a Tightwad tip, story, or experience to share, please do go visit Mary for more information. 

Posted in Tightwad Tuesdays

After my last post in which I gave snippets of things I have been busy doing lately, I was asked to share the burrito recipe I had made.  I will do one or two better than that.  I'll share several time-saving ideas when it comes to meals-on-the-fly, or, as we refer to them, homemade fast-food meals.

Having meals on hand isn't just a treat, it's a necessity for those of us looking to cut more unnecessary money out of our budget.  One fast food meal can cost upwards of $25 - which was 1/4 of my total food budget!  I say was, because we are really streamlining our budget right now, and I'm now down to $75 per week.  So, one fast food meal is now, *gulp*, one-THIRD of my current food budget.  Yikes!  Being tired or cross or lazy now costs my family 1/3 of our weekly groceries!!  That should put dining out into perspective.

In my bid to cut all dining out expenses from our budget, I knew I had to get tough - disciplined tough.  I had to plan, anticipate, and WORK.  Because believe you me, having a fully stocked kitchen which anticipates ALL things isn't for the faint of heart.  I began with a notepad, and wrote down enough breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks for a week.  Then, on another sheet of paper, I began ruthlessly scheduling my days.  It looks something like this:

Wednesday (the day I made this list):  dinner - Polenta Pie and Salad
prep:  soak beans overnight for chili, make yoghurt, prep Cinnamon-Raisin Bread

Thursday:  breakfast - Cinnamon-Raisin Bread and fruit;
lunch - Veggie Soup and Cheese Quesedillas
dinner - (CP) Chili and Cornbread
prep:  bake Cinnamon-Raisin bread first thing in the morning; make Cinnamon-Raisin oatmeal mix and store in pantry; make Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffins for Friday's breakfast; make whole wheat bread; go grocery shopping; thaw a gallon of milk before bed

Friday:  breakfast - Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffins and fruit;
lunch - Polenta with Spaghetti Sauce and veggies;
dinner - Pigs-in-Blankets, coleslaw, chips;
prep:  (A.M.) assemble polenta and place in fridge for lunch; shred cabbage for dinner and place in fridge; make batch of burritos and freeze; make batch of pigs-in-blankets and freeze

Saturday:  breakfast - homemade granola with strawberries and fruit;
lunch - see list of possible lunches freezer burritos loaded with cheese, enchilada sauce, & lettuce;
dinner - homemade pizza and salad meatloaf, peas, baked potatoes;
prep:  assemble breakfast casserole for Sunday and throw in fridge; thaw chicken for Sunday dinner; artisan bread starter; pull out Banana Bread from freezer to thaw for Sunday breakfast; make yoghurt; pulled out muffins from freezer for breakfast instead

Sunday:  breakfast - Scrambled Egg Casserole, Banana Bread, fruit Super Power Muffins and fruit;
dinner - Hunky Chicken, salad, bread homemade pizza and salad
prep:  thaw chicken broth for Monday's dinner; pull out Banana bread for Monday's breakfast from freezer

Monday:  breakfast - Banana Bread and fruit (and lots of coffee - ugh);
lunch - pigs-in-blanket (yep, we're addicted) and pineapple;
dinner - Crock Pot Mushroom soup, boule bread, salad;
prep:  make artisan bread; throw dinner in crock-pot by 11 a.m.

Tuesday:  breakfast - Cinnamon-Raisin Oatmeal and fruit
lunch - beans and rice;
dinner - Veggie Stir Fry and homemade vegetarian sushi (my first attempt :P);
prep:  prepare all veggies for stir fry; make vegetarian sushi rolls and store in fridge; make whole wheat bread; make whole wheat French bread rolls and freeze; soak red beans for Wednesday's dinner; transfer bag of bagels from freezer to fridge

Wednesday:  breakfast - Bagels and fruit;
lunch - leftovers;
dinner - Red Beans & Rice and Salad;
prep:  Grocery List and Meal plan; make whole wheat pitas

Now, while reading through this, you see that Saturday and Sunday had quite a bit crossed out.  That's because PLANS ALWAYS CHANGE.  Saturday hubby and I thought we'd go grab the travel trailer from storage, pull it over to the house, and commence a leisurely spring cleaning and general maintenance on it throughout the day.  We're planning a trip to Tucson this weekend, and wanted to get ready.  (For entertaining reading, feel free to read how our LAST trip to Tucson last May turned out.  At least we don't have Irish dance to contend with this time, lol.)  We left the boys home in the morning and trotted off to storage.  (okay, we didn't really trot - hubby bought a tank last weekend and so we roared off to storage)  We got to storage, threw the old hitch (sidenote here: this hitch-with-sway-bars was my grandparents that they always used when camping; this hitch has been towing me around since I was a tyke, so sentimental feelings about a piece of rusty metal abound) onto the new truck, and realized with a dismayed disbelief that the old hitch wasn't going to work.  It was too high for us to hook the trailer onto.  As in, a good 6-8" too high.  I readily conceded defeat, but hubby, being a hubby and all, tried to make it work.  Several cotter pins and trips to the hardware store later (they all snapped from him trying to get the trailer higher), he finally admitted this wasn't going to work.  We needed a new hitch.  I suggested passing "GO" and heading straight to Camping World.  He shook his head and stubbornly headed off to Checkers auto supply.  Seeing where this was headed, I called the boys and told them we'd be awhile and then asked hubby to stop for water (it's pushing 100* now here in AZ, and you don't leave home without water unless you're coming right back; critical flaw in our plan) and grabbed some corn chips as well (hey, if you could see into the future like I did, you would've grabbed them too).  Checkers had some items, but none of the hitches or hitch balls were rated over 5,000 lbs.  Our trailer is rated at 7,600 lbs., fully loaded.  Heh-hmmmm.  Next stop, Wal-Mart.  Less choices than Checkers.  Out we go.  Our third stop takes us to an RV store.  They have the hitch ball we need, but not the hitch.  We might have purchased that, but the lady behind the counter tried telling my husband that instead of a $300 hitch that would do the trick, he'd be better off flipping the axles of the trailer to raise it to the height we needed.  Yeah, you know what happened.  He put the hitch ball back and walked out without purchasing anything.  Don't try to sell a man something more expensive, bill it as less expensive and less trouble, and expect a man to purchase a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. from you, especially if you are a woman.  Doesn't go over real well.

By this time, it's lunch, and I'm calling the boys to tell them we're now on our way to Camping World , which is about an hour round trip.  They're hungry, and so I tell them to grab a couple of the burritos out of the freezer and deck them out for lunch.  They're happy (of course they're happy - they're home eating when they want and playing Guitar Hero Band on the Wii with no interference) and off we drive.  At Camping World, we finally find it - a hitch with sway bar attachments that has a variable height adjuster - yay!!  The cost?  $302 and some change.  If you were paying attention earlier (and I don't blame you if you weren't - this post is going on waaaaayyyy longer than I had anticipated), you caught the part where we just purchased a new (to us) truck - an F-350 diesel to be exact.  So we're not exactly flush right now (hence the grocery budget cut), and $300 is looking like a looooooot of money - which it is.  So, we pick up a standard ball and hitch, appropriate weight requirements, and head out the door to go back to storage.  On the way, we stop at home real quick to have a burrito (they cook up in about 5 minutes - faster than the drive thru), and I spend all of 5 minutes throwing potatoes in the crock pot to bake.  Turn it on high, and hit the road.  By the time we get the trailer home, it is about 4 o'clock in the afternoon.  Oh.  My.  Gosh.

Well, we settled in to Spring Clean, but not so leisurely anymore.  I scrubbed, did laundry, vacuumed, mopped, sprayed, wiped, and sanitized.  Hubby worked outside, and we didn't stop until about 7 p.m.  We came in the house, showered, and headed down to the kitchen, where baked potatoes were waiting for us.  I pulled mini-meatloaves out of the freezer (bake your meatloaf recipe in muffin tin instead of loaf pan, and you have individual meatloaves perfect for just this occasion), nuked them for 5 minutes, and threw some frozen peas on the stove.  Within 15 minutes we were settling down to a wonderful meal - where previously we would have ordered out after a day like that.  Hubby was appreciative, and I was so happy I had all that available to do my job.  (as an endnote - I am very proud to announce that after two days of working on the trailer and all of the roadblocks we came up against, not once did hubby and I have cross words.  We're growing up, indeed. )

I highly encourage every woman out there to take a good look at her kitchen and make it work for you.  Living on a budget is time-consuming, but if you plan it right, it'll pay off in spades.

To read more Tightwad Tuesday posts, or to join in yourself, please go visit Mary for more information.  Have a wonderful week!

Posted in Tightwad Tuesdays

Top 'O the Mornin' to ye all!  I wish you all a wonderful day filled with the magic and mystery of the Irish, and be mindful of the faeries and their tricks as you go about your day.

Below you will find my contribution to Tightwad Tuesday, all revolving around the delicious and inexpensive (for the most part) dishes of Ireland.  Have a wonderful day, and remember, whether you've an ounce of Irish blood in you or not - today everyone's a wee bit Irish!

Welcome to the Irish version of Tightwad Tuesday with Canadagirl!  If you have a thrifty tip to share, please do go visit my lovely friend, Mary, for more information - and to congratulate her on being HSB's Featured Member of the Week!!  Congratulations, sweetie!! 

Today I have a few of my family's standard, traditional Irish fare to share with you.  Growing up, I remember a lot of cabbage and potatoes at my grandparent's house.  Grandmas could add those two ingredients to just about any dish, it seems, lol!  Maybe that explains my aversion to cooked cabbage, but I digress.

Today I'm going to give you three recipes that are in our regular rotation of foods here, and it is my hope that you enjoy them as much as we do.  From my home to yours, slainte!

Irish Soda Bread

2 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons butter
1 beaten egg
¾ cup buttermilk or sour milk
1 beaten egg

Preheat oven to 375°.  In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and ¼ teaspoon salt.  Cut in butter till mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Combine 1 egg and buttermilk; add to flour mixture.  Stir just till moistened.  On a lightly floured surface, knead gently for 12 strokes.  On a greased baking sheet, shape dough into a 6-inch round loaf.  Cut a 4-inch cross, ¼-inch deep, on the top.  Brush with 1 beaten egg.  Bake for about 35 minutes or till golden.  Cool on a rack.  We have this with our Irish Potato Soup below.  This is a great bread for sopping up that delicious soup.

*variation:  Sweet-Raisin Irish Soda Bread:  Prepare as above, except add 2 tablespoons brown sugar to the flour mixture and 1/3 cup raisins to the buttermilk mixture.  We have this for breakfast.  It's wonderful with fruit of a morning.

Irish Potato Soup

½ cup (unsalted) butter
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
3 leeks, sliced
3 large baking potatoes, peeled and cut into ¼" thick slices
3 (14 1/2) oz. cans chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat; stir in onion and leek.  Cover and cook 20 minutes.  Stir in potato; cover and cook 15 minutes.  Stir in broth, salt, and pepper; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes or until potato is tender.  Remove from heat, and cool slightly.

Process soup in batches in a blender/food processor until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides; return to saucepan, and cook over medium heat until thoroughly heated.  Serve with following toppings:  shredded Cheddar cheese, crumbled cooked bacon, chopped fresh chives.

I often make this in the morning and then stick the pan in the fridge so all I have to do is re-heat it for dinner.  I've often wondered how it froze; not having dairy in it and with the potato creamed... hmmm.  I'll have to try it soon.

Now, for you meat lovers...

Crockpot Irish Beef Stew

2 lbs. stewing beef, cubed
2 envelopes dry onion soup mix
1-10 ¾ oz. can tomato soup
1 tsp. salt
½ teaspoon pepper
2 cups diced carrots
4 cups diced potatoes
1 lb. pkg. frozen peas

Cover beef cubes in flour (you know, shake a Ziploc bag around doing the boogie while it's full of meat and flour :).  In a frying pan, place several Tbl. of olive oil, heat, and add floured meat.  Heat until browned.  Place beef in crockpot, and add water to the pan.  Whisk up all the brown bits on the bottom of the pan, and then pour those over beef.

To the beef in the crockpot add:  onion soup, tomato soup, salt, pepper, carrots, and potatoes.  Cover with water (using soup can to get all the rest of the tomato soup out).  Cook on Low 8 hours.

Add peas, cover, and cook on low 1 more hour.  Serve with thick slices of homemade bread to sop up the gravy.  This is soooo good!

Posted in Tightwad Tuesdays

Happy Tuesday, and welcome back to Tightwad Tuesday with Canadagirl!  If you are new to Tightwad Tuesdays but are interested in joining us, please do go visit my very sweet friend Mary for more information.

Today's Tightwad tip is an inexpensive, filling crock pot meal.  The first time I made this dish, my family raved and my husband and I agreed that this was an instant classic and wonderful comfort food.  Because this recipe cooks for 10-12 hours, I put it on in the early mornings when I know we're going to have a busy day.  Best of all, you don't need any side dishes with this meal (it could be paired with a salad quite easily, though, if you need to spread it farther); I just serve it with homemade whole wheat bread and voila!  Dinner is served.  I hope you enjoy it!

Vegetable Bean Soup

3 cans Great Northern beans, drained and lightly rinsed
1 bag turkey bacon pieces (like Bacon Bits, but real)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
4 cubes chicken bullion
3-4 Tablespoons dried, minced onion
4 cups potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 cups carrots, peeled and chopped

Combine all ingredients except water in 3 1/2-quart slow cooker.  Stir well, and then add water to about an inch from the top.

Cover, and cook on high for two hours, then low for 8-10 more hours.  Serves 6-8 (unless you have one teen and one pre-teen boy in your home, then it's anyone's guess, lol!).

As with any recipe, of course you know that substitutions are always welcomed, and do in fact make a dish YOURS.  Maybe you aren't intimidated by dry beans, and use them instead of canned.  No bacon pieces?  Throw in real bacon (cooked), or leftover ham.  Out of minced onion?  This morning I was low, so I used a combination of minced and powdered.  You could use real onion, if you chose.  No hard and fast rules - play with it and make it for YOUR family.  My rule is that I always try a recipe the way it was written the first time I make it, then all bets are off, lol.  Except when I don't.  Ü

Now, for the frugality of this meal:

3 cans Great Northern beans:  $0.50 ea
1 bag bacon pieces:  $1.50
spices and vegetables: $1.50 altogether
Grand Total:  $4.50
Assuming a generous serving to 6, that breaks down to be $0.75 a serving!  Throw in some homemade bread, and you still haven't topped a dollar per person.  This has to be one of the most economical and filling meals in my repertoire.

Bon Apetit!

Posted in Tightwad Tuesdays

Good Tuesday to you all, and welcome to Tightwad Tuesday with Canadagirl!  If you have a tightwaddy tip to share, please do join us by visiting our lovely hostess Mary for more information.

Today my tip has to do with the high cost of medical care and medication.  This is something that my mind has been turning over for several years now, and I am more convinced than ever that most people go to their doctors because it's expected of them.  Fear also plays a major role:  fear that we will do something wrong.  Fears that have been instilled in us by both the medical establishment and this new governmental society.  (Did you really think this would be a dormant subject for me after my mini-rant?  LOL)  We have been stripped of basic free will and the ability to act outside the box, but we all think this is normal.  Normal to haul your healthy child to a doctor's office where ill people gather for the sake of the doctor proclaiming them healthy??  What sort of insanity is that?  Not once did I take my children to their "well-child doctor visits" (an oxymoron if I ever did hear one) without them becoming ill within days of their appointments.  Needless to say, several years ago I finally just stopped dancing with the governmental mindset and kept my babies home.  Aside from two ER visits by Jigger and one by Piper (boys - what do you expect?), we have been doctorless for years now.  It drives my medically-trained family members batty, but then, they don't really need a reason to look at me weirdly, do they?  After all, I homeschool my children. *grin*

Anyway, in my bid to become better versed at taking care of my family (something mothers have always done for their families until recently), I have been studying homeopathic medicine.  I am still a rank amateur, but have high hopes of becoming more well-versed as time goes on.  In fact, it's one of my 'things to do' this year.  Ü

Two weeks ago, as we were getting ready to go up north, my loving husband suddenly came down with a nasty little cold.  You know the one - maybe it's already visited your home, or is just making its presence known.  Either way, it never avoids any home for long at this time of year.  Since we wanted him to be healthy for our weekend, I dug out my DK Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine and went straight to the cold remedies.  The boys and I ran to our nearest health food store, and when hubby came home he was pampered back to good health.  I have to say that I have never seen anything work this well this quickly.  We were both shocked, and he was sold on homeopathy.  You see, earlier in the day he had stopped to pick up some over-the-counter cold medicine, which wound up not packing half the punch that our homeopathic remedy did.  I highly encourage everyone to try this at least once.  The ingredients are all natural, so what do you have to lose?

Homeopathic Cold Remedy

ingredients:
garlic
ginger root
lemon
honey

directions:
Peel and crush a medium-sized garlic clove. Grate/mince a similarly sized piece of fresh ginger, and place both garlic and ginger in a tea ball.  Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon into a mug, and then add the tea ball, hot water, and a teaspoon of honey.  Drink up to 3 cups a day while symptoms last.

In addition to this, I also used an essential oil burner to keep Eucalyptus Oil wafting through the air right next to my poor hubby (he looked truly pathetic that evening).  He drank two cups that evening while inhaling the oil, and by morning he declared he felt almost completely better.  He's a man, therefore he did NOT follow through with another mug in the morning before work and one more after work/before bed, but he is convinced that had he done that, he would have erased all symptoms of his cold.  I smelled this concoction, and his assesment verified my conclusion:  this 'tea' tastes like a sweet and spicy lemon tea with the strangest hint of garlic.  All in all, quite palatable and much better than chemicals racing through our systems.

I hope this has sparked an interest for some of you, or at least got some questions rolling.  I will be posting a little more on this topic soon, as I am currently reading a book that I think may be indispensable to the home healer.

Posted in Tightwad Tuesdays

Today is Tightwad Tuesday with Canadagirl once again!  If you have a money-saving tip to share with all of us, please do go visit my dear friend Mary to learn how to join in on the fun.

Today's tip is a deviation from my normal food-related tips, but if you have come to enjoy my food-related tips, don't worry - they'll be back.  *Ü*  I'm just taking a break from them as I prepare a different sort of TWT theme for myself.  It's a work in progress, and I'll share it as soon as it's ready.

Today's tip comes to us from our local libraries.  How many times have you walked by, seemingly blindly, the used book store in your neighborhood library?  We seem to have focus issues at times, don't we?  We go to the library for free books, the book store for books for purchase, etc.  Well, we're missing out.

Piper dragged me into the used book store in our library awhile ago (literally dragged me) to point out a portion of a collection that had been released for sale.  These were books that were required for our home education, but that I hadn't purchased yet.  The odd one that I needed I borrowed from the library, or was on a wait list elsewhere.  Take a look for yourself:

These are hardcover tomes with a copyright date of 1952 on them.  If this book were published now and sold in today's market, I presume to assign a value of no less than $15 per hard cover volume.  Having looked this specific book up, I can tell you that the Tolstoy edition alone is selling for $5.99 + s&h on Abebooks.com.  I purchased the entire set of books, all 21 volumes, for $10.  That is less than 50¢ a book.  I was flabbergasted.  These are some of the greatest minds of all time, at a low bargain price of less than a can of soda.  Archimedes, Tolstoy, Plutarch, Virgil, the list goes on.  It's staggering to realize that these books have been turned over due to no circulation.  And we wonder why each generation seems to be growing dimmer.  Sorry, soap box issue.

Anyway, assume that each volume would go for roughly $6 on the open market, and you get a grand total of $126, which means a savings of $116 for me, because I would have had to purchase them sooner or later.

So, the next time you go to your local library, make sure you have a couple of extra dollars in your purse, for you never know what will reach out and grab you.  Just be sure you grab back!

Posted in Tightwad Tuesdays

Welcome to Tightwad Tuesday's with Canadagirl!  If you have a tightwaddy tip to share with the group, please do go visit my friend Mary for more information.

This week, I thought I'd post this recipe for Black Bean Soft Tacos.  I actually just threw this all together one day, and it has become a lunch staple for us.  Sometimes I'll pare it with my homemade Beef Rice and a salad for dinner, but usually it winds up being a fast, easy, and filling lunch for me and the boys during the school week.  I hope you enjoy them!

Shani's Black Bean Soft Tacos

2-3 cans of black beans, drained
1-2 teaspoons homemade taco seasoning
red onion, diced
garlic, pressed
olive oil
whole wheat tortillas

In a frying pan, heat olive oil.  Add onion and garlic, and cook for a couple of minutes.  Add the beans and seasoning and cook until heated through.

In a second (non-stick) frying pan, heat on medium heat until pan is warmed.  Pop in a tortilla, spin gently (to avoid burning) for a minute or so, then flip and repeat.  Your tortilla is done when it begins 'puffing' up. 

Did you know that tortillas are *not* cooked all the way when you purchase them from the store?  Nope.  You need to finish cooking them at home.  I learned this way of finishing them from some Hispanic friends of mine back in Michigan.  We detest microwaved tortillas (smell, taste, sogginess factor), and this way makes them dry and almost crisp.  Yumm!!!

Add your bean mixture to the center of your tortilla, top with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, etc., roll up and enjoy!  The two boys and I use two cans of beans for lunch; when hubby is home we go through three.

Now, in a bid to become more aware of how much I'm spending and how much per meal is (this will all link in to a future Tightwad Tuesday post), I've figured out that this meal (tacos, rice, salad) costs my family approximately $7.44.  Here's the breakdown:

Tacos:
3 can beans, 50¢ per can (avg. sale price here)
12 whole wheat tortillas, $2.29 (I know other brands are more inexpensive, but my research has shown that the cheaper brands are that much more unhealthy for you- I will begin making my own soon)
cheese, 75¢
lettuce, 25¢
tomatoes, 25¢

Beef Rice (double recipe):
Rice*, 75¢
Seasonings, 50¢
Butter, 40¢

Salad, $1.25

*I purchase my rice (brown, long grain - NOT minute rice) at a local Farmer's Market for 99¢ a pound (79¢ on sale), because it just tastes better.  I've tried other types of rice, but the FM has a tremendous turnover, so the rice is super fresh.  We didn't like other pre-packaged types of brown rice, because they tasted greasy and unpalatable to us.  This does not.

So there's my recipe for a quick, easy, healthy, filling meal.  I hope you enjoy it!

Posted in Tightwad Tuesdays

Good Morning, and welcome to Tightwad Tuesdays with Canadagirl!  If you are one of my new bloggy friends that I met at the Talk-A-Latte Seminar this past weekend, welcome!  I hope you enjoy my tightwad tip for today (considering one of you asked for it, *grin*).  If you find yourself wanting to participate, simply go visit my dear friend Mary to sign up and get more information.

About three years ago our home went 'green.'  We tossed out all the chemicals in our cleaners and began purchasing only ecologically friendly products.  As some of you know who may have tried this, it is not inexpensive, nor are they commonly found in your neighborhood grocery store.  So, I began looking for homemade cleaners.  I began acquiring books, scoured websites (pun intended - hey, I had this whole post written up last night and my computer ate it, so I'm re-doing it this morning without my caffeine jolt yet), and started experimenting.  And what I found astonished me.  With little effort, minimum cost, and maximum benefits, cleaning your home doesn't have to kill you.  Literally.

See, the thing that triggered my consideration of green cleaners was a fact I had initially read somewhere that stated that some allergies and asthma-related problems are chemical in nature.  Considering that Piper has suffered with severe allergies since toddler years and I have asthma-related issues, I was on a mission to 'cure' him (me too, but mostly him) the natural way.  (As an aside, if you want to frustrate your medically-trained parents, don't take your child to an allergist - have the faith that this is something you can figure out and begin experimenting on him or her.  Then, when your test results are conclusive, attempt to reason with them when you present your findings as medical fact.  Fun times, fun times, LOL.)

So, my research led me to a staggering statistic:  women who work at home are 54% more likely to develop cancer than women who work outside the home.  See, our homes retain the chemicals in the air we breathe.  The facts on endometriosis alone are shocking.  In 1934, only 21 cases of endometriosis were documented.  Today we have over 5 million.  While I understand that chemicals are not the sole blame for the severe increase in medical maladies, I can not in good conscience ignore that they are there and obviously contributing.  Think about this:  the average home has 62 chemicals in it, which is more than a chemistry lab had at the turn of the 20th century.  To read the same report I did, go here.  Scroll down the page until you find the ABC's report by Dr. Joyce Woods.

Obviously, we needed to go green.  Not simply for the environment, but for our quality of life and our very lives, period.  I have had great success with the following cleaners (all of these are in spray bottles that I picked up for around $1 each):

Toilet Bowl cleaner:  pure, undiluted white vinegar

All-Purpose cleaner:  50% water, 50% white vinegar, and 10-15 drops of essential oil of your choice - orange or lavendar are my favorites for this (essential oil is optional in this mix-if you want to use it as glass cleaner as well, omit the oil)

Fabric freshener (along the same lines as febreze):  100% water, 15 drops lavendar essential oil, 15 drops tea tree (Melaleuca [Alternifolia])essential oil

To clean the bathroom sink, I take baking soda and liberally sprinkle it all around.  I then drop 8-12 drops of lavendar or tea tree essential oil on the baking soda, and clean as usual. 

To recycle your black-and-white newspapers before you throw them in the recycling bin, wad them up and use them to clean your glass/mirrors.  They blacken your hands, but your glass will be streak-free.  We have no paper towels in this house, so newspaper is routinely used.

These are the main cleaners I use - if you need a specific one, let me know and I can send it to you.  If you can only afford two essential oils right now (they run, on average, $8/bottle, but last a year each, give or take), I would purchase lavendar and tea tree.  They are both extremely versatile, being disinfectants as well as homeopathic.  If you get a cut or burn, just dab the tea tree oil on it and be amazed at the speed of healing.  Some people do have a sensitivity to tea tree oil (Jigger), so you may want to consider combining it with a carrier oil to reduce it's effect on said people.  Essential oils are found at any local health food store, but if you have difficulty finding them, you can order them online from Mountain Rose Herbs.  I have not personally ordered from them yet, but several reputable companies I have gone through for other homeopathic things do recommed them, highly.

For those of you who have actually followed this post and made it this far and are curious how Piper came out, his allergies were drastically cut when we went green.  They go away completely (except for nature-induced allergies like ragweed) now if he just avoids dairy products.  Oh yes, that one was fun to figure out.

To learn more about essential oils, you can use this report as a reference.  To begin your home library, I highly recommend Herbal Homekeeping by Sandy Maine as an excellent starting (and actually, complete) point.

Once you begin to research homemade cleaners and the properties of some of these essential oils, you may be encouraged to delve into minor homeopathic treatments.  If so, your pantry will become more and more a true pantry as you find room for your oils and books amidst your food stores, much as our foremothers did.  Soon, you will have quite a bit of space taken up in your pantry, as I do.

When this happens, you will feel pride in yourself, for not only are you helping your family to save money, but you are also helping the environment and taking back baby steps of independence for your family.  Our utter reliance and dependence on the medical industry for even the most minor thing is crippling our ERs and unnecessarily overburdening our insurance companies.  Not to mention the whole brainwashing aspect of it, but that's a post for another day.  *grin*

Thanks for sticking with me through this monster of a post, and I look forward to visiting you all to glean ideas from your successes.  Have a tightwaddy day!

Posted in Tightwad Tuesdays

Welcome back to Tightwad Tuesday with our very own Canadagirl.  If you have a tightwaddy tip you would like to share, we would love to know it, so please go visit Mary for information on how to join in on the fun!

Today I'm going to share with you what we do with our chicken (dead, not live - I can't advise you on what to do with a live chicken, as we don't have any.  Well, I could advise you, but considering I have limited practical experience, that would just be silly.) when we have one.  Are you using every last bit of chicken in your kitchen?  There are a surprising number of things you can do with your chicken, and a surprising number of meals in one carcass.  Using every bit of your chicken can help you save money, and teaches your children not to waste.  Win-win!  Plus, I purchase multiple chickens when they are on sale (saving money) and stick them in the freezer, so we always have a great week's worth of meals in the house if we have a lean grocery week. 

First, I cook it.  *grin*  For those of you who seem to be searching for new ways to cook chicken, or those of you who are just learning to cook for your families, here is a simple way to make a delicious chicken.  After you thaw your chicken, rinse it thoroughly.  Slice up an apple and stuff the cavity of the bird with it.  Place the chicken in a crockpot, breast side up.  Sprinkle the chicken with salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, thyme, and onion powder.  Pop two chicken bullion cubes into the crockpot, and add about half a cup of water.  Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.  Delicious, easy, and quick.  Serve it with sides of your choice.

Now, when you are cleaning up after dinner, place the chicken carcass in one container,

and the drippings in another.

Throw it in the fridge, and you can deal with the leftovers the next day.

Okay, it's the next day.  *grin*

First thing to do is to get your dinner for tonight going.  Tonight we're going to have Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup, Homemade Wheat Bread, and Salad.  (we actually are - what are you having for dinner?).  If you don't have your bread made, get it going; once you have it rising, come back to the chicken.

To begin your dinner for tonight, place the drippings from last night in a dutch oven.  Add enough water to make a good amount of broth (I usually fill it up to about 3/4 of the pan - this allows for the steam that will dissipate).  Add about 4-5 chicken bullion cubes, salt and pepper to taste, dried minced onions, and parsley.  Let simmer for most of the day, or at least as long as you're working in the kitchen.  You can add some diced chicken from the carcass if you like, but I don't usually, as I have other plans for that leftover chicken.

Okay.  So, your bread is rising, and your chicken broth is simmering.  All told, once you're used to this, only about 40 minutes should have elapsed at this point, maybe less.  Now, pick off the chicken from the carcass and set aside.  With this chicken, depending on how much is left, I will either make chicken salad for sandwiches (this stretches the chicken much farther than if you just made plain chicken sandwiches), or a homemade chicken pot pie (recipe forthcoming) for dinner a night.  Doing that, you have made three filling, inexpensive dinners out of one on-sale-at-the-time-of-purchase chicken.  You're amazing!  *grin*

Now, you have a meatless carcass.  Time to throw it away?  No!  Time to make broth.  Toss that chicken in a dutch oven (I have two, and highly recommend having at least that many), and fill the pan almost completely with cold water.  Add 7-8 chicken bullion cubes, salt and pepper to taste, dried minced onion (several tablespoons worth), and parsley (at least 2 tablespoons worth).  Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat and simmer for at least 30 minutes.  Now, I like to have things cooking on the stove, so I'll let it simmer for a few hours.  Meanwhile, check your bread; it may be ready for its second rising.

Once you have both pans going (we're at about 45 minutes now) and your dough on its second rising (50 minutes), make a batch of Homemade Noodles for your soup tonight.  This will take about 20-30 minutes to get them to their rolled out and drying stage.

Now, at this point, check your bread.  When you have a lot of heat generating in the kitchen from cooking/baking, your bread tends to rise more quickly.  If it needs to go in the oven, then preheat the oven and finish your bread.

In your soup broth for tonight (first broth), add sliced carrots and celery, and let simmer for a little longer.  We like our veggies al dente, so I don't usually simmer them for longer than 20-30 minutes.  If it's close to dinner time, then I'll keep it on the stove; if not, I just pop the pan in the fridge on a hot pad and dinner is pretty much ready.

Now let's take care of your second batch of chicken broth.  Pick out as much of the carcass as you can, and then I pour the broth into a large glass bowl, making sure the broth goes through my mesh strainer as I do so.  This will ensure that no bones are left in.  Place your broth in freezer storage containers, making sure to measure as you pour.  Label each container with contents and amount, and place in the freezer.

I like to have one bowl of about 6-8 cups worth, and the rest I break down into 2 cups per container (the amount of a can of chicken broth).  The 6-8 cup container is usually used as a cheap and cheat lunch.  Boil some ready-made pasta, add some carrots and celery, and voila - lunch is served.  If you need more broth than that, just add some more water and a couple more bullion cubes.

If you have placed your soup broth for tonight in the fridge because dinner's still a-ways off, cook up your noodles, rinse, and place in a ziploc baggie in the fridge.  At dinner time, heat broth, then add noodles to warm through only about 5-7 minutes before you put on the table.  Slice up your bread, add some butter, and make your salads.  Dinner is now served!  Enjoy!