Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap

I've had a few emails asking if I'm ok since I kind of disappeared this week and didn't put up a "reuse it" post. All is well! I just started a nursing class this week that meets for five hours at a time so now it's time to reorganize my life a bit to fit everything in. In the meantime, I think I've cooked NOTHING this week. The kids have been fending for themselves, using my menu plan and inserting a few scrambled egg nights in. I did happen to pull out a recipe when I was digging through my pile this week. I know I've posted it before but I'm doing it again because it is THAT good. It's a great way to get tons of fruit into my kids without any prodding from me.

So here it is...

Caramel Apple Toffee Dip
(at Christmas I serve this on a tray with red and green apples)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 oz cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup toffee pieces (skor or heath)
1 cup pineapple juice
12 apples cored and cut into wedges

Mix first four ingredients until smooth. Stir in toffee bits. Chill. Combine juice and apples in a bowl and toss to coat. This keeps the apples from turning brown on the tray. Drain apples and serve with dip.

Do you have a recipe you'd like to share? Please link directly to your post, not your homepage and please include a link back here to the Grocery Cart Challenge.

Have a great weekend!!!

Reader Question!

Mandy wrote in with this question....

Your frugal tips and tricks have saved me a lot of money in the past and I am hoping that you can save me once again. We recently found out that our 17 month old daughter has a gluten intolerance and we are all having to go gluten free now. Right now, this is nearly doubling my food budget and I was wondering if you or any of your money saving readers had any advice for me. Relearning how to buy and cook food is difficult enough, but trying to do it all frugally is proving to be an even bigger challenge.

Since we don't have any dietary restrictions at this point I'm wondering if any of you Gluten Free'ers out there have some advice to offer? Please enter your wisdom in the comments and let's see if we can help Mandy out. Thanks guys!!!

GCC Shopping Round Up

So.....finally here's the round up. I did a one-stop-shop this week by only going to one store. I've STILL got loads of that free bread in my freezer so I didn't need to go to the discount bakery again. (Gosh, I'm loving that!) The garden is keeping me in free greens and a few berries and I have lots fewer people to feed this week as kids are shipped off to mission trips, and vacations with Grandma. So here's what I got....

Win-co

Bananas $1.94
Bulk lentils $.98
Bulk barley $1.10
Bulk brown rice $.72
Bulk black beans $.89
TP $5.48
Tortilla chips $2.18
Milk $1.98
Olives $1.58
Fels Naptha (laundry soap ingredient) $1.12
Nasal Spray $1.75
cheddar $4.48
Napkins $1.98
Sugar substitute $1.80
Broccoli $.71
Tomatoes $1.86
Mozzarella $5.14

Grand Total $35.69

Woohoo! I'm totally digging the budget these last few weeks. So how did YOUR shopping trip go?

If you'd like to let us know, please link directly to your post, not your homepage, and please include a link back here to the Grocery Cart Challenge.

GCC Shopping Round Up

My day got away from me today so I didn't grocery shop yet. Check back tomorrow for the Shopping Round Up.

If you've sent me an email recently I will EVENTUALLY answer. (smile) Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement. I'm so gratified to know that this little spot in the blogosphere is helping other people live frugally, save money, and reuse! Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Menu Plan Monday

I've got kids going every which direction this week. One kid is headed off on a mission trip, one kid is going camping with Grandma and cousins, and one day all four kids are gone at the same time. I love summer. Here's what's cooking this week...

Breakfasts

Kids make their own this summer and can choose from oatmeal, eggs and toast, or bagels and fruit

Dinners

Monday, kids are gone so I'm not cooking
Tuna Salad Sandwiches with a bite, fresh fruit
Garlic Penne Pasta and steamed broccoli
Taco Salad (using garden lettuce)
Broiled Trout (from brother in law), garden salad, rolls
Grilled chicken salad (using leftover chicken in freezer and garden veggies)
Leftover Buffet

For more recipe ideas go HERE.

Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap

I'm putting today's recipe swap up when I'm thirsty and craving something sweet. This is a fun non-alcoholic version of a fruity summer drink. It makes one pitcher but in our family we sometimes double and triple. It would be great in a punchbowl for a party too.

Non-Alcoholic Citrus Sangria

• 1 apple, cored and sliced
• 1 orange, sliced
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 oranges
• 2 lemons
• 2 limes
  
• 40 oz container of white or red grape juice
• ice

Place sliced apple, orange, and sugar in a 2 quart glass pitcher. Juice remaining fruit. Add juice to pitcher with grape juice and ice. Chill until time to serve.

Do you have a recipe you'd like to share? Please link directly to your post, not your homepage, and please include a link back here to the Grocery Cart Challenge.

Have a GREAT weekend!

Preserving Your Recipes For Today and For The Future

*A reader wrote in asking how I keep track of my recipes and it got me thinking about the richness of a woman's cookbook. This is my response.

Food is a connecting fiber woven throughout the story of our lives. The smells and tastes can bring back memories that transport us to another time and place. It was a part of my childhood as Grandma and Mom sat at the kitchen table and taught me how to peel the apples for grandma’s delicious apple pie in an unbroken ring of skin. It was a part of my special time with dad as we got up early on Saturday mornings and launched our boat in Lake Shasta to catch fresh trout for dinner and again when he walked me through our garden pointing out each vegetable that was going to show up on our dinner plate while we planted the fish heads into the garden soil. Food was a part of the tradition of my marriage as Chris and I sliced into our wedding cake and then shared it with our closest friends and family. And with each family Christmas as our older members pass on and our newer members are added, special dishes come out full of foods passed down from generation to generation. And it’s those generational recipes that stir up memories that we pass on to the younger family members in a continuous thread of history.

If you were to check in the cupboards of women across America you’d probably find that, tucked away in their recipe cupboards, is a small box or book full of great grandma’s recipes. Most have personal notations from women long gone and some have greasy fingerprints from the hands that held them before. But whatever condition they are in their value is priceless. And as our own children grow into adulthood, our recipes will become the ones handed down and talked about long after we’re gone.

In the day and age of computer technology, the art of the handwritten cookbook is nearly lost. Most of the time I read my recipe directly from my laptop. Other times I manage to take the time to print it out, only to toss it in the garbage later. But as my kids are starting to take over some of the cooking and my days with them living in my house are numbered, I’m starting to see the relevance in getting my recipes organized and making them personal. So here are some simple tips to get your food history ready to pass down to your own children and grandchildren some day.

• To keep it simple, start with a three ring binder, dividers according to course (main dish, dessert, breads, etc.) and some plastic page protectors. When I’ve tried a recipe that I like I either print it out or photocopy it so I have a hard copy.
  

• Next I make notations on the recipe. Note whether you altered ingredients, how much everyone liked it, if you served it for a special occasion and include the date. All the extra details make it even more memorable for future family members. It’s almost like a diary of sorts.

• Then slip it into a waterproof sleeve and file it under the correct divider. Next time you use the recipe your plastic sheet will protect it from splashes or spills.

Every time you add a recipe you’ll be building a legacy for the future and a reminder of the great memories you cooked up for your family.

For more ideas go see WFMW.

10 Ways To Reuse It: Old Cd's and DVD's

Do you have old DVD's that have seen better days or old CD's that you never want to listen to again? We have old kids movies that are unplayable and music that I'm embarrassed to admit that I ever bought. We even get them as advertising in the mail some times. So when you can't sell them on e-bay because they are essentially worth nothing now, what do you do with them? These ideas are so fun that now when we hit the Goodwill Outlet we intentionally look for old CD's and DVD's so we have enough to get creative with. Hope you see something that inspires you too.

1. Coasters: The shiny side makes modern looking coasters to keep your wood tables from getting rings.
2. Paint Palettes: Let your kids get their Davinci on at craft time. Use these as artists palettes and let them paint to their hearts content.
3. Bird and Deer Deterrent: We hand CD's from our cherry tree sometimes to keep the birds from eating all the fruit. I've also heard that people hang them around the perimeter of the garden to scare away the deer.
4. Candle Base: Set your candle in the center of the CD as a light reflector and to catch any wax. Turn the lights off and see the shimmering glow that it makes.
5. Wall Decor: My teenage son collects them and is working on covering one whole wall with them. It's almost like hanging tiny little mirrors all over the wall and it makes his room look even bigger.
6. Make A Lamp: You won't want to pass up this creative idea. This lamp is really cool.
7. Photo Magnets: I know this site says to make these for a locker but wouldn't they be creative Christmas presents or even ornaments? Go check it out HERE.
8. Name That Veggie: Write the name of your garden veggie on the CD in permanent marker and then glue it to a stick to mark the rows in your garden.
9. In Case Of Emergency: These are a great lightweight emergency mirror to use to signal for help when your out hiking. Much lighter in your pack than an actual mirror.
10. Make a hovercraft: My friend did this for a class she taught. Glue a lid of an old sports bottle (the one you open by pulling the valve) or a dish-washing detergent lid to the hole of a CD. Next, you blow a balloon with air then, trying not to lose any air, stretch the balloon onto the lid. Place the hovercraft on a smooth surface and let it go.

For more great ideas go visit WFMW!

GCC Shopping Round Up

I came in really under budget this week which could mean two things, I either forgot a bunch of stuff (I'm pretty sure it's not this) or the garden and freezer full of bread are paying off. So here's what ended up in my basket this week....

Win-Co

Milk $2.27
soy milk $2.95
pepperoni $2.48
cream cheese $.98
ground beef $6.22
bulk macaroni $.98
2 crescent rolls $3.00
whipping cream $1.68
2 tubs strawberry cream cheese $3.26
bananas $1.90
mozzarella $1.68
Parmesan $1.89
spaghetti sauce $.98
cream of chicken $.83

Grand Total $31.11

Usually when I have weeks like this it seems to balance out in my later shopping trips by being a little bit higher. We'll see how the month turns out.

Would you like to share your shopping trip? Please link directly to your post, not your homepage, and please include a link back here to the Grocery Cart Challenge.

Menu Plan Monday

Welcome to another week. My garden is actually looking like it's growing now. Last years cucumber crop didn't survive the birds, this year it looks like the second planting took and I'll be able to make some garlic dills for the cupboards. I usually get a whole years worth canned from a single row in my square foot garden. We also have bread coming out of our ears. A few weeks ago I mentioned that we got a huge load of free bread from a friend. My freezer is just starting to have tiny empty spots where we're making a dent in our stash. I'll be making some french bread pizza and lots of sandwiches this week. Also, last week I experimented with the kids fending for themselves at breakfast time since I have an early morning class. It worked well and I think that's the way our summer will work. In the fall my class isn't so early in the morning and I can go back to cooking my favorite meal of the day.

Here's what's cooking this week...
Breakfasts:

Choice of oatmeal, bagels and cream cheese, eggs and toast, and/or fruit.

Dinners:

French Bread Pizza
Macaroni Pie and green salad from the garden
Homemade Hamburger Helper and fresh garden spinach
Tuna sandwiches and veggies with dip
Chicken Crescent Casserole and green beans
Attending a birthday party
Leftover Buffet Night

For more menu plans go HERE.

Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap

What the heck? It's friday already! How about that recipe swap, huh? I've been sitting here at the computer wondering what I'm forgetting and it just dawned on me. I think college is leaving very little brain cells left for real life stuff. So without any further hoopla, here's this weeks recipe swap.

Would you like to share a recipe? Please link directly to your post, not your homepage, and please link back here to the Grocery Cart Challenge.

Have a great weekend!

10 Ways To Reuse It: Broken Crayons

What Mother doesn't have a box full of broken crayons? When my kids were little they broke them for fun and when they got older they colored so enthusiastically that they broke under pressure. And the frugalista in me just couldn't throw them away so I threw the broken ones into a shoe box, hoping they would still use them. But it seems that a crayon, once broken, loses it's appeal to the younger crowd and there you are, stuck with a box full of sad looking colors. Here are some fun ideas to give them one last use.

1. Seal A Letter: melt the wax down over the envelope and press your metal seal over the top. It's a lost art, but a fun one.
2. Make Crayon Cookies: Melt broken crayon bits in various colors in a muffin tin, just until they've run together. After it cools pop it out and you have a multi colored Crayon cookie that kids will love to draw with.
3. Fix Furniture: Use them to color in scratches in same-colored furniture.
4. Make Ornaments: Place metal cookie cutters on a rimmed cookie sheet lined with foil. Place broken, unwrapped pieces of crayon in each cutter. Bake at 150 for about 20 minutes or until all crayons are melted. Remove from oven a let cool. Remove from cutter and attach to packages as decoration or tie a ribbon around it and use as a tree ornament.
   
5. Make Stained Glass: I remember doing this with the kids when they were littler. We shaved crayons over wax paper, put another layer of wax paper on top and then ironed them on low. They melted and looked just like stained glass. We hung them in their bedroom windows for fun.
6. Make Fire starters: Put bits of crayon in cardboard egg containers and let set in the sun for the day until they melt. Then when you need to start a fire, tear off one section of carton and light it to start your fire quickly.
7. Officially Recycle: There is actually a website that recycles your crayons for you. Go check it out!
8. Decorate Candles: Slightly warm up a long candle in the microwave just to soften it a bit. Then roll them in multi colored crayon shavings for a colorful table top decoration.
9. Paperweight Gifts: Take some smooth rocks and warm them in the oven on 225 for about 15 minutes. Remove from oven with mitts and then touch broken crayons to them in a decorative design. Watch as they melt onto the rock. Let cool (you can pop them in the fridge to speed this up) and you've got some neat looking paper weights.
10. Make Safe Crayons for Toddlers: Throw all the broken pieces in the toe of an old pair of nylons. Tie it tight and let your little ones color on a piece of paper with them. This keeps them from swallowing crayon bits and gives them a fun, safe way to color.

For more WFMW ideas go here!

GCC Shopping Round Up

I did a little shopping from my garden today. My spinach and lettuce were edible this week and I even have a few little tomatoes starting. The green beans, carrots and cucumbers (yahoo, pickles this year!) are finally looking hearty and the potatoes, pumpkins and rhubarb are getting bigger everyday. A few crops look like they are still struggling due to our crazy wet weather and very late summer sun. But it was fun to be able to mark those few things off my grocery list and know that they weren't costing me any money.

I also shopped from all the free bread in my freezer.

Here's what I actually ended up buying.

Win-co

TP $5.48
Milk $1.98
Tortillas $3.78
Eggs $5.59
2 cans kidney beans $1.36
hamburger buns $2.48
tomato soup $.49
chicken breasts $7.48
bananas $2.84
cheese $4.99
2 packs mushrooms $3.56
Bacon $2.58
2 cream cheese $3.10
pitas $1.68
apples $2.64


Grand Total $50.48

Would you like to tell us about your shopping trip? Please link directly to your post, not your homepage, and please include a link back here to the Grocery Cart Challenge.

Menu Plan Monday

This will be the week I start using all that FREE bread stuffed in my freezer. I also have some homemade pesto from last years garden basil that I'm going to be using. It's been sitting in my freezer and I'm thinking I need to use it up.

I also am going to try a little experiment. Seems my early morning summer classes aren't conducive to making spectacular breakfasts, which is my favorite meal to cook. This week I'm going to let the kids choose between several breakfasts that they can make themselves and allow myself to take the morning off.

Here's what's cooking....

Breakfasts

A choice of oatmeal, eggs, bagels from the freezer or fruit smoothies. All of which the kids will be making for themselves.

Dinners

Baked Pesto Chicken, Italian bread, garden salad
Lentil Tacos
Scrambled eggs, toast, bacon
Baked Macaroni, tomatoes, and cheese with garlic bread
Homemade Veggie Burgers
Apple French Toast Casserole
Leftover Buffet

For more great menu plans go HERE.

Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap

Oooh, I had my first home grown garden salad for dinner tonight. Is it me or does it taste better when you grow it yourself? And for those of you keep thinking you'd like to try gardening but just haven't jumped in yet, try this. Go down to your local nursery, get a few lettuce starts and put them in a pot with some dirt, on your porch. It's a simple way to start and it's still not too late to grow some yourself. Sometimes all it takes is a small start under your belt, to get your wheels turning for next year.

So....on the fourth of July I went to a party where I ate the BEST Ramen Noodle salad ever! It had sunflower seeds and broccoli slaw and all kinds of goodies in it; different from the ones I've had before. So in an attempt to replicate if for a BBQ on Sunday I'm using this recipe that I found on Recipezaar. Go take a look and see what you think.

Do you have a recipe you'd like to share? Please link directly to your post, not your homepage, and please include a link back here to the Grocery Cart Challenge.

Have a great weekend!

Freebies Are Fun

Today was one of those heaps of blessings days.

• Our taxes were finished just in time to wrap up my financial aid (we're talking last minute, folks) they cost less than we expected, and THEN we're getting a nice little tax return.
  
• Next, we found a FREE pedestal sink to go in our daughters bathroom (which has been sinkless for the past two years). Sign up for freecycle in your area if you haven't already.
  
• And to top it all off, I know a guy, who knows a guy, who knows a guy......that works at a grocery store. When they rotated stock today I was the lucky recipient of five giant boxes of breads, dented cans, bunged up boxes of pasta salads and oatmeal and all kinds of goodies.

Here's a picture of my stuffed freezer. It just doesn't even do it justice. The whole top shelf is stuffed with bagels. You can't even see the shelves on the door that are stuffed. There were loaves of sliced bread, artisan loaves, english muffins, garlic bread, rolls....and I even gave some of it away. (Can you see my bargain turkey hiding in there from Thanksgiving? I need to use that thing up!)

Good day, indeed!

10 Ways To Reuse It: Phone Books

Do phone books stack up at your house? My old one hasn't even been used much before I get another one left on my doorstep. Pretty soon my desk drawer is full of old phone books that we've just shoved in there. Here are some amazing and crafty ideas to turn these giant wastes-of-paper into some pretty useful stuff.

1. Make a Book Safe. Cut out a square of pages in the middle of the book under the cover and you now have a secret hidey hole.
2. Shipping. I regularly sell stuff on e-bay. Phone book pages are great packing material because they are thin and the pages crinkle up really well.
3. Booster Seat. Duct tape a few phone books together and you've got a FREE booster seat for that kiddo that doesn't quite reach the table. If you want to, you could sew a cover and wrap the books in quilt batting first for a little extra padding and decoration.
4. Make Seed Pots. I've done this with newspaper but phone book pages work just as well. Go HERE for directions.
5. Unique Gift Bows. Use THESE instructions and make yellow (or white) gift bows for your packages.
6. Coffee Table. Wow, wouldn't THIS be a conversation piece. This is a really neat looking table.
7. Occupy Bored Kids. Just how many paper airplanes or origami animals can your kids make with the hundreds of pages in a phone book? We're talking hours of quiet, I MEAN summer fun for your kids.
8. Desk Caddy. Use these directions to make a really cool desk caddy to organize your pencils, pens and other odds and ends.
9. Paper Flowers. These directions used newspaper to make adorable paper flowers. I'm sure you could use phone book pages as well and adorn all kinds of things with your creativity.
10. Get Some Exercise. Remember step aerobics? Build your own step with phone books and duct tape, rent a free aerobics video from the library and you've just created your own gym.

For more great ideas go see WFMW!

GCC Shopping Round Up

It's a tight week for us financially so I'm winging it. I got some basics and my garden is finally producing some edible salad veggies and raspberries so we'll be able to stretch and be creative. We had lots of leftover holiday food, plenty of eggs and baking supplies, pasta, leftover frozen soups, and frozen or canned fruits and veggies. Here's what I did get.

Franz

2 loaves garlic bread $1
2 loaves white bread $2.00
4 loaves struesal bread $2.00
4 packs of buns $2.00
2 loaves of bread FREE

Win-co (no pictures this week, kids put it away too fast)

Sun dishwasher detergent $2.10
Bananas $3.48
grapes $2.28
apples $4.08

Grand Total $18.94

Would you like to share your shopping trip? Please link directly to your post, not your homepage, and please provide a link back here to the Grocery Cart Challenge.

Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap

Woohoo! Fourth of July weekend always means lots of yummy potlucks and BBQ. Here's a simple fruit salad that's always a hit.

Creamy Fruit Salad
(serves 10)

• 2 medium bananas diced
• 2 medium apples, diced
• juice of1 lemon
  
• 1 (20 ounce) can pineapple tidbits drained, juice reserved
• 2 cups sliced strawberries
• 2 cups grapes
  
• 1/4 cup pecans, chopped
• 1 (1 1/2 ounce) box sugar free instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1/2 cup water

Combine bananas, apples and lemon juice in large mixing bowl. Toss until evenly coated. Add pineapple, strawberries, grapes and pecans. In small mixing bowl, combine pudding mix, water and pineapple juice with a wire whisk until smooth. Add pudding mixture to fruit. Mix gently until thoroughly coated. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Do you have a recipe you'd like to share? Please link directly to your post, not your homepage, and please include a link back to the Grocery Cart Challenge.