Name That Vegetable!

Anyone know what this is?

That, my friends, is an interesting little vegetable called kohlrabi. It looks a bit like an alien but it's really a low calorie, high fiber veggie packed with folic acid, calcium and vitamin A and C and I've got it growing in my garden in mass quantities. Now, I like to peel it and eat it raw with a little salt but my conservative eaters need a little more creativity than that. And since it's so good for them, I'm willing to disguise it a little. Your assignment this week? Don't pass one of these up at your local grocery store or farmers market. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Honey Nut Kohlrabi

• 4 kohlrabi bulbs small, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch strips
• 1/2 cup shredded carrot
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped (see recipe)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 tablespoons snipped chives
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

To toast nuts, cook them in a dry skillet over medium-low heat for around seven minutes, turning them occasionally to prevent burning, until they are fragrant and visibly darkened. Then cool completely. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the kohlrabi and carrot and cook for five minutes or until kohlrabi is tender. Meanwhile, combine honey, pecans, lemon juice, lemon zest and chives in a small bowl. Stir to mix well and set aside. Drain vegetables and place in a serving bowl. Top with the honey mixture and butter, stirring to combine. Serve immediately.

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.

Reader Question!

I came across your blog on the web and it is an interesting concept. It has been hard for me to feed a family of 4 on one income. I tried to go over my weekly shopping list several times but can’t get it below $80. My question is how do you have dinners when there is only the one meat purchase? And how do you make it through the week without the household items (toothpaste, lotion, soap, dish detergent etc.)?

Thanks for all your posts and for helping all the frugal moms!

God Bless

Janice

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Hi Janice,

We eat lots of meatless meals. Like this week, we are only having meat in our spaghetti, a quiche with a bit of sausage in it and I used some leftover chicken to make taco soup. I make my menus up from what I already have on hand. That way I spend less each week and I'm not needing to purchase EVERY item in EACH recipe. I just purchase a few items to finish the recipe off.

Household items have their own budget now. I try and slip them into my grocery budget when I can, but I've set aside some money each week to cover those items. We use dollar store brands for most things that you listed.

Remember that $60 is the number we picked because, at the time, that's all we had. Everyone's lowest number may be different. If you're still wanting to get your budget lower here are a few things to look at.

Are you cooking from scratch?

Is there anything in your grocery bags with a brand name on them? (snapple, tide, kraft, ragu) Can you make it yourself or buy it in generic form?

Are you throwing away leftovers? Sometimes one meal can stretch to two. That saves cooking time as well as the dollars to buy more ingredients.

Do you have a menu plan each week? If you have a plan you know exactly what you need to buy.

How many times are you going to the grocery store each week? You'll save money if you shop once.

I hope those ideas help!
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If you're new to the blog I wrote several posts a few years back on just EXACTLY how I do it. You might want to check them out.

The Plan

The Shopping Trip

The Weekly Prep

GCC Shopping Round Up

I keep forgetting to hit my local discount bakery store on their bargain Saturday but I finally used up my freezer full of FREE bread and had to buy some loaves. So, I went today, and paid their normally cheap price (versus their super-duper discount Saturday price) and stocked up. Here's what I gathered today.

Franz

2 boxes donut holes, 4 loaves of bread, 3 bags of bagels, 1 bag of rolls $9.00



Win-co

tortilla chips $2.36
bleach $.99
nectarines $2.27
tomatoes $1.66
garbage bags $6.33
apples $2.38
spaghetti noodles $1.67
2 spaghetti sauce $3.16
2 avacados $1.76
2 cans green beans $.98
frozen blueberries $3.98
instant grits $1.65
milk $1.98
2 soymilk $2.56
mozzarella $5.59
paremsan $1.76
fresh spinach $1.78
mushrooms $1.78
bulk almonds $9.77
2 cans chili $1.76
frozen peas $.88
hamburger $3.53
frozen spinach $.65


Grand Total $70.23 this week.

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

Menu Plan Monday

I need to remind myself that it's always crazy and overwhelming the first week of school. I had a meltdown the first few days but by the end of the week I finally figured out how to juggle it all. (whew) So these week I'm sharing the cooking with my older kids. My son loves to add special spices to the spaghetti so that's what he'll be cooking this week. My daughter is in charge of the Baked Potato Bar and the crockpot will be doing the rest. (Whoever invented the crockpot is my hero!) So here's what's cooking at the Bryant house this week.

Breakfasts - I've been having the kids make their own to save me some time in the mornings. They can choose from...

Oatmeal
Yogurt and fruit smoothies
Freezer goodies (muffins, pancakes, sometimes french toast)
Eggs
Dinners

Chicken Taco Soup (using leftovers from last weeks Black Bean Chicken)
Spaghetti, green beans
Baked Potato Bar with chili and cheese
Vegetarian Lasagna
Denny's French Toast with Strawberry Syrup
Sausage, Egg and Cheese Quiche
Leftover Buffet

For more great Menu Plans go HERE!

Easiest Homemade Bread

I love fall for so many reasons. It's really wet here in Washington state so the evenings are cold and damp, just perfect for a fire in the fireplace and a steaming pot of homemade soup. So of course what goes better with soup? Fresh hot homemade bread. If the thought of making yeast bread scare you at all, look no further. This is a foolproof method to build your break baking confidence. I hope you enjoy it.

Peasant Bread

1 package active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons of bulk yeast)
2 cups warm water, divided (not hot, just warm to the touch)
4 cups all purpse flour (I've used half white and half wheat before with good results)
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon of butter melted

Topping : poppy seeds, garlic bread seasoning, parmesan cheese, dehydrated onion, cinnamon and sugar (your choice)

Dissolve yeast in 1 cup warm water.

In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, and sugar


Pour in the yeast mixture and remaining 1 cup of warm water. Stir until combined.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. (I usually heat my oven up for 2 minutes making sure I can still touch the sides with my bare hand without burning myself, then turn the oven off)

Stir dough down to release the air. Divide dough in half and place each half in a greased 1 quart round casserole or ovenproof bowl. Brush tops with melted butter and add topping of your choice.


Let rise again in a warm place until doubled. (about 45 minutes) Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Remove from pans to cool on wire rack. Makes 2 loaves.



These freeze really well in a gallon freezer bag and, drumroll please, cost 46 cents per loaf.

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

Can You Help?

A reader wrote in:

A few weeks ago, someone on your blog linked a recipe for firecracker carrots. I have searched and searched for it and can not find it. Could you please post a request on your blog for that person to repost it? I was really busy this summer and neglected to copy it after my family gave it raves! I searched the net and can't come up with it. There are alot of close recipes, (it was an Alton Brown recipe) , but I think the poster put their own spin on the one they posted! Thanks so much. I really enjoy your Blog.

Vickie

Does anyone remember this recipe? We'd love to find it again.

Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap

So somewhere between leaving the grocery store and unloading my groceries at home, I lost my darn grocery receipt. I remember my total but I'm going to have to wing it on individual prices. So here goes.

Win-Co

D-con $5.46
Light bulbs $1.87
Hamburger $4.58
Nancy's Yogurt $5.46
Onion soup mix $1.08
cream cheese $.97
2 cans tomato soup $1.00
3 cans chicken broth $1.20
TP $5.87
Shampoo $.78
Conditioner $.78
Body wash $1.08
2 soy milk $2. 36
Deodorant $1.28
Bananas $2.38
Corn $. 68
ibuprofen $2.52
Toothpicks $.52
Spaghetti $1.47

Grand Total $41.34

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

It's back to school week for all of us here. My classes start today and the kids homeschool starts today too. Fall is in full swing now and the soccer games and school work makes life really busy around here as it does with most of you. My greatest weapons at accomplishing all the things this season brings are Organization and my trusty crockpot. So I've been making weekly school plans, chore charts, and record keeping books as well as digging through my favorite slow cooking recipes.

Here's what's cooking at our house this week.

Breakfasts: I've been offering the kids a few choices that they make themselves in the morning. This cuts down on my prep time in the mornings and produces independent kids, which is kind of the goal isn't it? I have several things made up in the freezer for self serve mornings.

• Banana Muffins
• Oatmeal
• scrambled eggs and toast
• Fruit and Yogurt Smoothies

Lunches are usually a kind of antipasto tray with hard boiled eggs, fruits, veggies, cheese slices, and maybe toast with jam. Sometimes if we lots of leftovers we'll have that too.

Dinners:

• Roasted Kielbasa and Potatoes with green salad
• Crockpot Chicken with Black Beans and cream cheese
• Veggie Omelets and Toast
• Crockpot Potato Chowder, rolls
• Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
• Spaghetti and green beans
• Leftover Buffet
  

For more great menu plans go HERE.

Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap

You know, I like all the seasons except for Spring because Spring in Washington is just rain, rain, rain. But Fall....now Fall is my all time favorite. I think it has to do with chilly nights, and a roaring fire, and good books under cozy blankets. It's when structure comes to visit again as school begins. And with Fall brings all the cozy comfort foods like stews and fresh bread and warm hearty breakfasts.

One of the yummiest Fall breakfasts that we enjoy is Baked Oatmeal. It's healthy, filling and cheap. It's like eating warm oatmeal cookies first thing in the morning. Sometimes we add apples or raisins and then pour milk over the top so it's like a dessert. So here is a great baked oatmeal recipe for you to try.

Baked Oatmeal

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.

The History of Our Frugality

I was feeling all nostalgic today and decided to re-post my very first blog entry to The Grocery Cart Challenge. This blog was started in December 2007 and the story below will explain why in the WORLD we decided to do this. Since then my parameters have been slightly juggled and adjusted but this is the beginning....where were three (wow, three?) years ago. Let this be an encouragement that it CAN be done. Our income has increased a smidge since then, and I'm not being humble....seriously it has increased just a bit, and we're still plugging away. So, if you're just starting on this journey, whether out of choice or necessity, and the fear sometimes gets the best of you, breathe deep and keep trying.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few years ago my husband and I decided that it would be best for our marriage and our family to leave our six-figure, high-pressure career behind to start our own business. So, we saved up enough to get us through the first 18 months without a paycheck and we were sure that’s all it would take until we could support ourselves.

Excuse me while I chuckle and snort.

Since that time we've gone through some dramatic and intense changes in our way of thinking, in our marriage and family, in our thoughts and desires, in our relationship with God and ESPECIALLY in our finances.

I really thought I had been doing my best by having a grocery budget of $800 dollars a month. I was spending roughly $200 a week for the six of us to eat, keep our clothes clean, our bottoms wiped, our bodies groomed, my house scoured and fresh, entertaining friends and family, and periodically giving meals as gifts to new moms.

But necessity is the mother of invention, and our new life choices were necessitating a change in our shopping. What started as a drastic life change, soon became a thrilling beat-the-system challenge to feed our family for less. So, we instituted what seemed to be the most ridiculous grocery budget imaginable to make it through until our business could support us better….

For our family of six we were going to attempt to spend $60 a week on groceries.

I know, you’re first thought is NO-WAY! But darn it, when I set my mind to something I don’t accept failure easily. We were going to attempt to slash our grocery budget by way more than half and I knew some sacrifices were going to need to be made.

So here were our parameters:

• Our new budget would cover food, toiletries, household cleaning supplies, entertaining and food gifts.
• My goal dollar figure for each week would be $60.
• We were going to have to re-evaluate what we thought were “needs”.
• We were going to have to be creative.

When people started hearing what we were doing they wanted to know how we did it. Thus, this blog was born. It's been a steep learning curve to re-evaluate our wants from our needs but I can honestly say our life is so much simpler due to the changes we've made.

GCC Shopping Round Up & Garden Update

I don't know about your growing season but here in Washington State, the last few years have just been a flop. We haven't been able to get past the frost until almost June and then our Fall keeps starting earlier and earlier. Out of the 10 tomato plants I put in the ground this year, I've harvested one tomato and I have a handful of cherry tomatoes that look pretty darn green. The weather is already getting chilly and the rains are starting to visit and there just isn't much heat left to ripen my tomatoes. I went out and trimmed them up a few weeks ago, hoping to divert some of the nutrients towards more blossoms and lo and behold, I found plenty of new flowers today. So a friend of mine suggested making a little green house out of plastic wrap. I wrapped it around my tomato cages, hoping to accelerate the little bit of sun we have left. We'll see how it works.


In the meantime I have four little pumpkins growing so I'm looking forward to homegrown pumpkin pies during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays this year.


So this week, due to all the birthdays and the eating out, I blew off my menu plan. I just got some basics since I have plenty of bread in the freezer and fruit and veggies in the crisper.

Win-co

2 gallons milk $3.96
mozzarella cheese $5.59
cheddar cheese $4.48
eggs $5.59

Grand Total $19.62

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

Those of you who've been around a while know that all three of my boys have their birthdays in September. Needless to say, it's a budget blower for the month. This year two of them fall in the same week so I'm going ANTI-menu plan this week.

For birthdays we let them sort-of orchestrate their day, we take time off of school(homeschooling has some great benefits), work (being self employed has it's perks too) and most obligations and just do what they want to do. Somehow, they all got it in their heads and chose to eat out ALL three meals on their birthdays this year so we'll be eating out two days this week and having leftovers or easy meals (think grilled cheese, antipasto trays, soups and rolls) on the other days.

Therefore I'm going to fly by the seat of my pants when it comes to menu plans this week.

Check back for the Shopping Round up. I'll just be getting a few basics for the week.

Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap

So....my second sons birthday is this week and what did he want? A dog. That brings our household dog total to two. We adopted an adorable little Cairn Terrier from the Humane Society and found the perfect Gourmet Dog Biscuit recipe to use for training purposes.

Gourmet Dog Biscuits

If you've got doggies in your house, this is a great way to give them a homemade healthy treat and it's a fun cooking project to let the kids help out with.

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.
We'll be spending our weekend staining a new fence and prepping the house for a paint job. Hope you have a great weekend and we'll see you on Menu Plan Monday.

How To Speak Frugalese

Chris and I attended a wine tasting a few years back. It made us feel sophisticated and adult for the evening. The only drawback was that I had no idea what anyone was talking about. We spent the whole evening smiling and sipping while our table mates tossed out phrases like, “Tremendously complex finish lasting more than a minute,” or “Lightly floral notes.” If they would have asked me what I thought I probably would have smacked my lips and said, “Beats that last drop of grape juice that I drank from the kids sippy cups today.” The same goes with a visit to the doctor’s office. It took watching all 15 seasons of ER before I had a clue about what the doctor was saying to me at each visit. And I hate being the only one in the room that doesn’t know what’s going on. It seems that there is a special code language for nearly everything, even frugality. Since that happens to be something I speak fluently, I consider it my personal mission to make sure you don‘t find yourself in the same situation that I did. Here are some definitions to help you understand what in the world we’re talking about if you happen to come across a group of tightwads hovering over a 75% off rack.


Frugality, according to wikipedia, is the practice of acquiring goods and services in a restrained manner, and resourcefully using already owned economic goods and services, to achieve a longer term goal. I don’t know about the restrained part because normally we tend to get rather excited when we find a good deal or realize that we just fixed a broken appliance using a rubber band and a piece of chewing gum. MacGyver is our mascot.

A Frugalista is a step above. Not only is she resourceful and restrained but she does it with flair and fashion sense. The opposite of a designer-wearing fashionista, her outfit is more of a cross between Salvation Army finds, a great sale at Nordstroms, and a pair of used Jimmy Choo’s found at her favorite second hand consignment shop in the city.

Cheapskate can have a negative connotation but the frugal set wears the name with pride. It basically means someone who spends money only as a last resort and never at full price. Take note though that you can call yourself a cheapskate but never anyone else. Then it turns into an insult.

Tightwad is another one of those tricky words that you can attach to yourself but never anyone else. It’s a person who has trouble giving up their money. Isn’t that all of us to some degree? Isn’t everyone left with a feeling of loss as that phone payment drops into the mailbox never to gain interest in your savings account again?

Frugology, the study of all things frugal. This means searching for coupons, studying a money saving book or article, dreaming up new ways to save money and learning new skills to fix things yourself. It’s tantamount to a Masters Degree in Personal Economics.

If you slip a few of these words into a conversation with your frugal friends, you’re sure to blend right in.

For more WFMW go HERE.

GCC Shopping Round Up

I had time enough to shop at more than one store today. Woohoo, what a treat! This is what I gathered.


S & S Liquidators

3 boxes cake mix $1.00
6 boxes jello $4.14
6 tomatoes $2.00
nutrisweet $1.99
chicken broth $.99
beef broth $.99



Win-Co

bananas $1.98
olives $.95
lettuce $1.68
apples $2.62
mushrooms$2.26
Dishwasher detergent $2.98
margarine $.68
nasal spray $1.40
tampons $2.22
18 double rolls of TP $10.16
2 gallons milk $3.96
corn chips $1.98
pork $5.72


Grand Total $53.06

Would you like to show and tell what you got at the grocery store? Please link directly to your post, not your homepage, and please include a link back here to the Grocery Cart Challenge.

Free Garden Paths!

I got to spend some quality time in the dirt this weekend. I harvested the first of the carrots...

and found all kinds of baby pumpkins, pickling cucumbers, a few baby green beans and some green cherry tomatoes all waiting to grow and ripen and end up in my family's tummy...or the freezer...or the canning cupboard. My one gardening downfall though, the thing that makes me growl every time I wander out there, is the paths in between my raised beds. They are full of weeds that usually get left untended until they grow higher than the beds. Then I'll take the weed eater out there, whack them down and it looks nice for about a week until they all start to grow back. And because I'm so cheap, I've been trying to figure out really thrifty ways to solve my problem. This weekend I was finally able to tackle the job and I'm pleased with the FREE results.

I started by whacking the weeds down (again) and this is what I was left with.


Next I grabbed FREE flattened cardboard boxes from the recycle bins behind some local stores and laid them along the paths making sure to overlap them and get as close to the edges as I could to keep the weeds from sneaking by. I didn't bother to cut them into pieces either. I laid them down whole so they left a double-thick cardboard layer. The cardboard serves two purposes; it smothers the weeds underneath while also slowly decomposing to form rich organic matter in the garden.


Here's the extra fun part. I noticed some neighbors had hired a company to come out and chip up some branches and chop down a few trees. My smart husband decided to go over and see what they were going to do with the wood chips. Turns out they were more than happy to drive them right over to our driveway and dump them in a pile for FREE. It saved them the cost of having to dispose of them and they also gave us the wood from the trees they chopped down too. So we got several rounds of free firewood waiting to be split and seasoned.

So we spread our free wood chips on top of the cardboard to make nice tidy organic paths that will keep the weeds away for a several seasons before enriching the soil as they decompose.

Ahhh, project completed.

Menu Plan Monday

We spent our labor day weekend digging in the garden, working on a fence that decided to fall over and continuing on with our house painting project. Lot's got accomplished which always feels good. Check back later for a garden update and a thrifty garden tip. Here's what's cooking this week at our house.

Breakfast

Choice of oats, pancakes, or fruit smoothies with PB toast

Dinners

Lemon Garlic Chicken with steamed broccoli
Veggie Omelets
Pork and Broccoli Stir Fry over brown rice
Taco Salads
Pot Roast with carrots and potatoes
Shredded Beef Sandwiches with fruit
Leftover Buffet

For more menu's go HERE.

Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap

Ahhh. Today has been a nesting day for me. The last few weeks have been busy but today was full of a hot home cooked breakfast, a new batch of laundry soap, birthday planning for our youngest sons birthday tomorrow and all kinds of coziness at home before soccer practices in the evening. I found myself with some bananas that need to be used up and a lone box of cream cheese just waiting to be turned into a cake.

Super Moist Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake:

• 1 1/2 cups mashed, ripe bananas
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 cup butter softened
• 2 1/8 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter softened
• 1 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 275°. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 casserole dish. In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the lemon juice and set aside. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in banana mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for one hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist. For the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add icing sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed until frosting is smooth. Spread on cooled cake.

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!