Posted in Tightwad Tuesday

Happy Tightwad Tuesday everyone!! If you'd like to join us in sharing a tightwaddy tip, please go see Mary over @ Canadagirl and join us!!

Ok. It's been a few weeks since I've had a tightwad tip so I'm excited about this one. I'm excited because I just stumbled upon it when I was making dinner last week!! How cool is that?!

I wanted to make Crockpot Italian Chicken for dinner, but I didn't have any Italian dressing. Well, I pulled out my trusty Pampered Chef Dressing Maker and...VOILA... recipe for Italian Dressing.

Here goes...

1/2 c white wine or balsamic vinegar (I didn't have either of these so I used what I had...apple cider vinegar. It was great!!)

1 c vegetable or olive oil  (I only use olive oil)

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp dried oregano

2 pressed garlic cloves

1 Tbsp sugar

I put these together in this order in my 'mixer'...

Mixed it together and voila...

I have my own homemade Italian dressing!!! : }

It doesn't get much better than that!!! Oh, and dinner turned out fabulous! We had leftovers the next day and finished it off. ALL, let me stress ALL of us loved it!!

Enjoy!!

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Posted in Tightwad Tuesday

It's Tightwad Tuesday and I have a tip. If you'd like to give a tip or check out other great tips, please go see Mary over @ Canadagirl and join in!!!

My tip this week is for free curriculum. WHOO HOO!! Who doesn't like free?!!  Yes, it's free. You just need a computer!!!

We are doing the 50 states this year with our co-op. When discussing what curriculum we wanted to use, one of the mom's remembered she had attempted to do  '50 states' with her son last year. She found the site Our 50 Great States  which, after signing up to receive their e-mails, will send you two states every week. The e-mail comes complete with links for printables, fun things to create in the kitchen from that state and a printable quiz!!!  We did the first lesson in class last week and there was so much info I didn't have time to share it all.  And the best part... It's all free!!!

I know this may not help some of my readers who are not from the US, but I did a quick search @ About.com and found some things for our Northern neighbors, Canada!! Give it a try. What've ya got to lose?

Enjoy!!

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Posted in Tightwad Tuesday

Hello and welcome to my Tightwad Tuesday tip!!! If you'd like more tips, please go see Mary over @ Canadagirl!

We had our first co-op class yesterday.  It was CRAZY!!!! Well, I am team teaching the 50 states and Gen. Science class.  I had info I wanted to share with the class, but we didn't have powerpoint.

Hmmm, what should I do? Power Point is NOT CHEAP and I'm not going to pirate a copy. I guess I'll have to show the pictures some other way!!!

Welllll, through my hubby doing some internet searches he found a $12 version of a compatable 'off brand' powerpoint. Pretty cheap, right?! I like free better. Don't you? My hubby felt funny about downloading an 'off brand' so we sat down together and did some research. We read feedbacks we found on this $12 version and found out there was a FREE download! WHOOOO HOOOO!!!

It's called OpenOffice.org 3.0.0! Now, for you skeptics, we haven't had ANY trouble with our computer since downloading it!! I AM SOOO EXCITED!!! I put together my first ever powerpoint!! I'm pretty proud of myself!

I was even able to burn this to a cd and run it on the equipment at church!!! How cool it that?!

Well, I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!!!

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Posted in Tightwad Tuesday

Hello and welcome to another edition of Tightwad Tuesday!!! If you'd like more Tightwad tips and/or would like to join us, please see our wonderful host Mary @ Canadagirl and see what's goin' on!!

How many of you love ice cream? How many of you love cakes?  How many of you love ice cream cakes? Well, I've recently learned of a tightwaddy way to make your own. Some of you may already know this lovely tip, but I've just learned it so I'm passing it on!!

You take your favorite cake recipe ( or a convenient box one) and make up two sheet cakes. Let them cool.

This next step can vary. You take your favorite ice cream ~ mine is Breyers Vanilla Bean ~ and let is soften so it is spreadable. Spread it over one of the cooled cakes. Take your favorite candy (or left over candy from birthday parties, harvest parties, etc.) and spread over ice cream. The other option is to mix the candy right into the ice cream and then spread it over the cake.  You may want to crush the candy before you spread it.

You then put the cake into the freezer for 30 minutes to let the ice cream firm up again. After 30 minutes, take out of freezer and put second sheet cake on top. You then frost entire cake and put it back into the freezer for at least an hour.

Voila!! You have your very own ice cream cake. I've also thought of using brownies instead of cakes. My boys aren't really cake eaters so this would probably go over better in our house!!

I hope you enjoy!!!

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Posted in Tightwad Tuesday

Hello everyone!!! It's time again for Tightwad Tuesday!!! YEAH!!! Our wonderful host Mary over @ Canadagirl would love to have you stop by and check out the other wonderful tipsters today and join in on the fun!!

It's hot where I live. VERY HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For this reason I don't usually bake in the summer. For some reason pita's sounded wonderful and I'm too much of a tightwad to add them to my grocery list because in my mind I think "Well, I can make those. I'll save myself money by doing that." Do any of you know what it's like to deal with an overwhelming craving that will just NOT be satisfied? Huh? Anyone? Anyone? Well, if you do, you're not alone.

I say all this because I just couldn't stand it anymore. I baked today!!! I made pita's! YEEEAAAHHHH!!! (The crowd goes wild and the applause is thunderous!!!~ at least that's the way I hear it in my head! : }  )

I thought I would share in the wonderous joy of creating something that has always seemed so elusive.  I found this online @ http://www.foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com/2005/09/pita-pita-i-too-much-eata.html. I'm sure there are others, but this one seemed simple. Here goes...

Your ingredients are:

• 2-1/2 cups bread flour, plus more for spinkling while kneading & rolling out the dough.
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 2 tbsp good olive oil
• 1 cup warm water (105-110)

8 8-inch squares of aluminum foil for baking pitas. This is because placing the rounds on the foil rather than on a baking sheet or stone allows a softer heat to surround the dough.

In a large bowl combine 1 cup flour with the salt, sugar and yeast. Add the oil and water. Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon for three minutes.

This is what you'll get.

Then stir in the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time. The dough should be a rough, shaggy mass that will clean the sides of the bowl.  If the dough is moist, add a small amount of additional flour.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 6 minutes. (Or until the dough has an elastic feel to it~it'll also feel warm in your hands.)

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees.

Pat the dough into a circle and cut into 8 pieces.

I used my wonderful Pampered Chef pizza cutter to cut the dough like a pie. (It's fabulous, and yes, I'm a Pampered Chef snob!!~The tools are wonderful, quality products and they are great about replacing broken items!)

Roll into balls, dust lightly with flour and cover with a damp tea towel.  Let rest for 30 minutes.

Use the palm of your hand to flatten each ball into a disk. Finish with a rolling pin, flattening the dough into a disk about 6"in diameter and 3/16" thick. Their thinness is more important than making them perfectly round. Who can do that anyway? I know I can't.

Place each round on a square foil, and carefully place 3 or 4 of the rounds directly on the oven rack. Bake for 5 to 8 minutes, or until they are puffed.

Repeat with remaining rounds.

I learned today that you'll need to keep an eye on them. It didn't take the full 7 minutes I set the timer for. I'm sure the hotter, drier weather has a lot to do with that.  When you remove the breads from the oven, stack them up and wrap them in a large piece of foil.  This will keep the dough soft while the tops fall, leaving a pocket in the center. 

Cut them in half (so you can fill the pocket) and serve warm or at room temperature.

As you can see by the wonderful assistance I had from  Cooper kid for this great shot, we didn't wait until they were cool.  He was hovering close by just waiting until they were done! I'm finding out that teenage boys are like that when there's food involved!! Work, not so much!!

If you decide to wait until they're cooled, make sure you wrap them up tightly. You can also freeze them. You just need to wrap tightly in aluminum foil, place in a zipper bag and freeze. It only takes about 5 minutes to thaw them at room temperature. To reheat, stack several in a pile, wrap in foil and place in a 375 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes.

I hope you enjoy these wonderful 'pockets'!!!

I know I did!

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Posted in Tightwad Tuesday

Hello everyone!! It's time for Tightwad Tuesday!!! For more TT Tips, please go see Mary over @ Canadagirl and join us!!

Most people love cheap and easy, right?  How about using what you already have on hand? This could be the ticket for you then!!!

I am a Food Network geek. I can turn that on and ALWAYS learn something new!!! Sunday afternoon was just such an occassion!!! My family was even in on it with me!!! We were watching Semi-homemade w/Sandra Lee and she had this wonderful recipe.

We drink soda. Not everyone does, I know, but for those of you who do, this is a quick and easy substitute for chocolate syrup ~it's Root Beer Sauce!

~3 (12 oz) bottles of root beer. Any kind you like.

~1/4 c sugar

Bring sugar and root beer to a boil in a heavy medium saucepan over high heat.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes or until mixture has reduced by 3/4 and is syrupy.  Remove from heat and allow sauce to cool to room temperature.

That's it!!! We have root beer on hand and I'm giving this a try today.

Maybe, just maybe, this will also work w/ Sandpiper's Iced Mocha.

Hmmmm.........maybe, just maybe...

Enjoy!!

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Posted in Tightwad Tuesday

Hello all! It's time again for Tightwad Tuesday!! If you want to join in on the fun with us, please go see Mary over @ Canadagirl for more Tightwad Tuesday tips!

I love guacamole! It loves me! It loves me so much it would 'hang' around in places I didn't want it to stay!! Well, I endeavored to find a low-fat replacement and...TAH DAH!!! I found one!! Yeah me!!

A friend gave me Lawry's dry seasoning mix for guacamole and it was fabulous!! However, being the tightwad that I am I didn't want to go out and buy a bunch of dry seasoning packets.  I looked the ingredients up online and found I have all of them!! 

It's this simple...

• salt
• dry onion
• dried red bell pepper
• dry garlic
• oregano
• chili pepper
• parsley
• cumin

I used two avocado's, peeled and mashed them and then added the dry ingredients and voila...GUACAMOLE DIP!!

 You'll need to play around with it to get it to your liking!! I'll  be playing around with mine. The first time I made it I added too much chili pepper. It came out pretty spicy!!! That's the fun of it I think!! Tweaking it until it's perfect!!

You can also add low-fat sour cream. This gives you more guacamole and makes your dollar stretch farther!!

Enjoy!!

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Posted in Tightwad Tuesday

It's that time again!! It's Tightwad Tuesday with our wonderful host, Mary!! If you'd like more tightwad tips head on over to Canadagirl and join us!! Thanks Mary for hosting us!!

Does anyone else get frustrated when trying to make copies from those wonderful 500 page activity books that we just HAD to have to enrich our children's education? Is anyone else trying their best to keep it in somewhat decent condition with the intention of maybe reselling it?

Well, I have a solution for you!! I use Spelling Power, which is over 300 pages and Story of the World, which is approximately the same!! My Spelling Power book I'll be using through 12th grade so I'd like it to stay somewhat usable. With STOW I need to make copies. That's not so easy even with the copier at the library.

A girlfriend of mine suggested this so I'm passing it onto all of you!! I went to OfficeMax, but I believe Staples also does this. They will cut off the binding and 3-hole punch it for you for next to nothing. I had both of these books done for under $6. I put them in a 3-ring binder I had laying around and

 VOILA...

Not only is copy making easier, but everyday use is easier. The books now lay flat on my desk!! I will be doing this with any other large paperback book I may purchase!! Life definitely became easier after doing this!!

Enjoy!

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Posted in Tightwad Tuesday

For more great Tightwad Tuesday tips, hop on over to Mary's @ Canadagirl and check it out!

For those of us who live in the desert, I found a great and CHEAP  way to spend an afternoon! I found a community pool that only cost us $2.50 for the three of us. It has waterslides, lap pool, diving board area, kiddie area w/minislide and jungle gym area, whirlpool and a small lazy river. We took water and some snacks and that was the total cost!!

Here is a picture of the pool we went to yesterday!!

We had a blast! (It didn't hurt that it was cheap too!)You could stay all day (10am -8 pm) or for just a short time for the same cost!

I know this doesn't help those who don't have community pools, but for those who do, try it out!!

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Posted in Tightwad Tuesday

If you'd like to join in on the fun of Tightwad Tuesday, please go see Mary over @Canadagirl and join us!!

Ok. I have thought and thought about Tightwad Tuesday. Today's is not a great recipe with stuff from the pantry. Or some great unique way to use something you don't use anymore in a brand new way. Mine is this. When the money is tight and I've just finished a bible study and cannot purchase another one for awhile, this is what I do!!

I go online and look for a free one!! YEAH! You're already online with your blog so there's no additional cost to you. Here are 3 sites I found just doing a quick search this morning!!

~DougBrittonBook.com

~The Gospel Way

~God's Word for You

See how easy it is?!

Thanks for stoppin' by!! Enjoy!!

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Posted in Tightwad Tuesday

If you'd like to join in on the fun of Tightwad Tuesday, please go see Mary over @ Candagirl and join us!

This is my first TT so here goes!

My hubby loves Mac and Cheese. Easy, right? NOOOO! He likes his mother's HOMEMADE mac and cheese. Well, my youngest likes the box stuff. (He's REALLY easy!!) I decided, after viewing last weeks TT, to use Mary's, over @ Canadagirl, homemade cheese sauce to try and be frugal yet pleasing to all.

I've created a hit! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here it is:

Take the noodles from a box of mac and cheese, (or any noodle you like) and cook them. Make this cheese sauce and add together. Voila! Homemade mac and cheese!

Cheese sauce:

Melt 2 tbsp butter in a saucepan. Blend in 2 tbsp of flour. Combine it with 1 cup of milk and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until sauce thickens. Add a 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese and cook until smooth.

(A little trick my hubby's G'Ma taught me-warm your milk up before adding it and when stirring it in, take the pan off the heat and blend it until smooth. Then put it back on the heat to add the cheese!)

I am sooooo tight that I used the shredded taco cheese we had eaten over the weekend with our tacos! I also shredded up some extra cheddar we use for sandwiches and added that as well. My family is pretty cheesey so there's never too much!!

No smart comments from the peanut gallery please! That means you, SS!! :}

I hope you enjoy!! We did!

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