Family sandwich!

I made this big giant loaf of lightly sourdough bread with the remaining dough from our lunch's breadsticks the other day. I took my handy-dandy electric knife and split it, then layered it with all things good on a sandwich. I then used the electric knife to cut it into 12 hand-sized sandwiches. It worked out perfect, since we had a late lunch that day, making it the perfect light finger food before bedtime. :-) (Dh wanted me to take a picture of him holding it and trying to take a bite-before I cut it- uh, I don't think so Mister! No way he could hold it without a mishap- too big.)

Gratituesday...

This Gratituesday, I am grateful for fresh Kale greens from the garden! Woo hoo!

I'm grateful that my kiddies are feeling better after last week's germie.
I'm also grateful to know, that God is in control of all the details of our lives.

We can trust Him!

Menu Plan...

Kvass, Kombucha, and bone broth- I'm ready!

Sunday:

- pancakes for some, eggs and applesauce for others

- (LF) Chicken Devan, corn, salad, (FF) breadsticks-bananas and clementines

- "Family Sandwich"(I made enough dough at lunch to make a giant short loaf of bread.)

Monday:

- eggs-n-ham

- beefy stuffed pita bread with lettuce, tomato, and sprouts/ black bean salsa

-Oriental Chicken and Shrimp Stir Fry, beets

Snacks: clementines, bananas, nuts, brownies

Tuesday:

- Brown Rice, eggs

- Zucchini Quiche, hashed brown potatoes, salad

-Garlic Chicken, Anti-cancer Slaw, Baked Potatoes with sour cream and chives

Snacks: lowfat cake with ff glaze, clementines, popcorn with butter and cheese

Wednesday:

- oats and eggs

-One Dish Macaroni and Cheese, marinated veggies, peas

-Quick Lemon Chicken, sliced tomatoes, potato patties, steamed broccoli

Snacks: ff banana pudding, clementines, pineapples, graham crackers

Thursday:

-grits and eggs

-Beef-n-potatoes, lima beans, sliced tomatoes and cukes

-Poor Man's Steak, baked potatoes with sour cream and chives, peas, green salad

Snacks: juice from the juicer, Maple-pecan granola, fish eggs

Friday:

- Breakfast Cake, eggs

- Polenta Pizza, bread sticks, super salad, lima beans

-Roasted Thyme Chickens, Favorite Brown Rice, green salad, carrots

Snacks: leftover breakfast cake, juice from the juicer, popcorn with butter

You wanna go shopping?

I didn't want the whole town to think I was nuts walking around flashing pictures everywhere so I tried to keep a low-profile with my flash! ;)

This was only about 2/3 of my shopping as I was not able to finish because DH called saying one of the kiddies had a fever again. -gulp-

I do want to share something I did before I even left to go shopping. (Well, outside of taking one day to print and clip coupons and sort out the old ones. Then I also took 2 days off and on gathering recipes and making lists based on those and what we were out of.) ..I made a pot of sloppy joe meat and I had some leftover bread on the counter along with a bowl of slaw in the fridge prepared for those who stayed home. I also had many baked goods around so as not to get one of those calls...you know, the ones where you hear these words "well, aren't you about done because we are hungry?!!!?" This is a VERY important step to having a good shopping trip!!! Ok, first stop was at the Cash-n-Carry. I bought that sack of flour there but I got it for 1/2 of that price; $10. I also bought three of those jugs of raw honey since winter is coming, we'll be drinking more teas and using more honey. I also picked up some chili powder as you might can see.

This is a freezer bag stuffed with some things from the Cash-n-Carry. There are chopped bell peppers (2lbs are like $2.39- not bad!), yellow squash for later in the month, lima beans, frozen coconut, and some fruit.

This is my shopping cart upon leaving Food Lion. I bought a couple of pineapples, cucumbers, bag of spinach, radishes, celery, alfalfa sprouts, bananas, rosemary, clementines, some frozen veggies (about 15 lbs worth), about 6 chickens, 6 boxes of Frosted Mini Wheats, org. Milk, 2 pks of manager's special chicken breasts, and several other things. Right at $100 after coupons.

We then left FL and went to my beloved Kroger.

I love Kroger. The produce department makes me so happy! ;) It gives me a good feeling when I walk in that area.

One of my buggies was 2/3 full nearly of produce.

I bought; green onions, salad mix, 2 bunches of beets (one to cook and one for Kvass), broccoli crowns, org. red onions, yellow onions, pomegranates, cauliflower, pecans, pistachios, cabbage, mushrooms, lemons, yellow squash, zukes, acorn squash, butternut squash (winter squash is on sale for .68lb), garlic bulbs, and probably more. Then I went through the meat buying more buffalo, Laura's Lean Beef, ground turkey, ground chicken, free beef fat to render, fish, turkey bacon, turkey polish sausage, some sandwich meat to make Sammy's since I had some good coupons, and I asked for beef bones but he didn't have any.


If you can see in this bag, I loaded up on the Ronzoni pastas since they were on sale and coupons were plenteous as well. Its a great product- high fiber, whole grain. I think you can see a bucket of lard in this picture too. I would like to render my own lard, since most of the commercial brands put those weird preservatives in it. (hmm, note to self, bug meat man at Kroger next time and ask for pork fat!- maybe you can get it free too self!)

Here's a little bit of everything all scattered and piled up. There's cottage cheese, ground chicken, org. ketchup, and several canned goods too. Del Monte vegetables were on sale 2/$1. Most of these will go to storage, but one recipe I have on the list for this month called for canned corn.

In this pic I think you can see more of that ketchup and some boxes of tea. Celestial Seasonings tea is on sale and I also had coupons from inside previous boxes. Love my tea! (And so do most of my kids!)

Here you see that big sack of flour again, along with the honey. I think there is some low-fat crackers there to go along with the fish eggs. The freezer bags are full of those chickens and frozen veggies.

Here's the only non-food items that I picked up. (All on sale and coupons!)

Here's part of the fresh, non-refrigerator food that I brought in.

Here's bananas, org. red onions, and garlic that's always handy in my hanging basket.

Here's several cans of coconut milk, a can of sweetened condensed milk, and numerous cans of organic tomato paste that I caught on clearance for .34 a can.

I am very low on wheat berries so I bought up some spelt flour, along with some polenta and the rest you see was already in the freezer.

Here you see Ro-tel and jarred garlic, but if you can see that jar up front you will notice that this is Spectrum mayo that I also got on clearance for under .50 a jar. I bought all that they had. (This mayo is usually almost $5!)

When I come home from shopping, I usually pull out at least one very cool treat. It adds to all the excitement! (Bringing in that much food at once is pretty exciting too!)

I found these Halloween Peeps on a clearance for .30 a pack -and boy were the little peeps here excited!

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I found that the sloppy joe mix was still waiting so that was a cinch to a starving crew, along with the slaw.

Meanwhile, I set into finishing broth (later bagging 9- 2 cup baggies for the freezer). I also put those two special-priced packages of chicken breasts on to boil so I could shred for quick meals later on in the week. Then I set in to rendering the beef fat.

-All in a day's work!-

A foraging we will go....

I can hardly believe it but we still have some goodies growing in our garden! The other day for lunch, I cooked some chicken on the griddle and put some acorn squash in to bake, and while the stove was working for me, I went out to pick the rest of our lunch!
I was able to collect a big bucket of 3 different kinds of lettuce, broccoli, and garlic tops that I chopped and tossed in with the salad.

We also picked an almost frost-bitten sunflower and brought it in for the table.

God is so good to give us fresh greens in November!

Shopping delay this go around... And restricting our diet a little...

The kids being ill has delayed me a couple of days on my shopping.

DH has also asked me to put him on a more restricted diet for a while to see if I can help him lose some weight. (This wouldn't be a bad idea for ALL of us right now ;) The last time I did this, he lost about 12 to 14 pounds in a month and he said he had all the food that he could eat! Well- let's hope I can pull this off again!

This plan will however require a little more focus at the store as I will have a more set menu plan. I also will likely save a bigger portion for picking up fresh veggies later in the month. It is the fresh veggies on this plan that helps keep the plate full, pretty, and fiber packed!

DH typically prefers country style cooking- you know where you fry your meat in fat and the like? (Yeah, and make gravy with the fat.) We also use a LOT of butter- like a big bunch lot! I saute, season, pan fry, and bake with butter. (We have no shortage of good fat in our diet!) I will try to cut back on some of that with using more applesauce in my baking and more herbs for seasoning, and boiling rather than pan frying, and even water sauteing.

It will also be helpful adding more green veggies such as salads, and when making mashed potatoes, using some buttermilk and/or bone broth rather than a stick of butter.

My main focus usually has to be more yummy veggies and cutting back on the main course, or at least cutting back the high fat in the main. That will be done by using leaner meats and more veggies with less meat in the main course. I will also use more beans and perhaps grains in the main dish to make it more filling while less fattening.

I also re-routed last week's menu too. Partly due to the virus that was in our home and partly to weed out the stragglers in the freezer. I found several bags of fryer breasts and come up with enough for supper. I also dug out the last of the cabbage and made a slaw. While digging in the freezer, I also found a small bag of blackberries and some orange zest so I made a nice 'kicked up' crisp with those. We have about ten to 15 pounds left of potatoes that are getting soft so I made a pot of mashed potatoes. Now, my path is a little clearer!


I will be using Set For Life and Recipes to Lower Your Fat Thermostat for most of my recipes, ideas, and plans. They stick to real, healthy food yet cut back on the fat. I really like the book Set For Life! It has lots of recipes using mostly basic things and they are family friendly.

Learning the hard way/ Am I too cheap?

Several years ago, when we first realized our 'economic downturn' was going to be unavoidable, we started doing many little things to cut back.


One thing I stopped doing was using 'paper pictures'. In fact, I still have rolls here that have yet to be developed and printed, gulp.


I was given a digital camera and I began to use it often. I built a small semi-private site where I housed many of our pictures, particularly our school pictures/pictures of the kids.


About a year ago, my hand-me-down computer crashed. Lost pictures- lots of lost pictures- yet, I was thankful for that web site because a good deal of the highlights of the children (birthdays and special events) were on that site.


(BTW-We also do not have a color printer by the way- the ink (and printer) are not in the budget. I think I've shared with you before that I have a cheap laser printer and buy cheap toner and refill it myself.)


Well, without warning (even though they said they emailed me- I checked through 4 months of email and the spammer on my provider and looked back through almost a thousand spam messages- no email from them), the site I was housing those pictures at decided that they were going to start a monthly fee and they DELETED ALL OF THE FREE ACCOUNTS. Uh-huh, mine included.


They claim that there is no 'back-up'- after first denying that I ever had an account, then telling me there was only one picture on the main page, then telling me that all that was left was the text on the main page, then telling me that perhaps I was contacting the wrong people, then emailing me all the text 'left' from the main page......Their final letter said it was "all deleted", "no back up", and "Sorry".


So- suffice it to say-guess this was one time that I was TOO frugal! :-(

GUEST POST: Christmas On A Zero-Budget

Brandy, The Prudent Homemaker, has put together this special post! I think all of us will find it very helpful and encouraging, as we seek to make Christmas a special time for our families.

CHRISTMAS ON A ZERO-BUDGET:
What do you do when you have no money to spend on Christmas gifts? What if your budget is small, but you'd still like to give more? What can you do to still have gifts under the tree? Here are some ideas for an enjoyable Christmas without spending a dime.

CHRISTMAS CARDS
Rather than spending the money to mail Christmas cards, send an email Christmas card instead. You can send a Christmas letter or a regular card-style Christmas greeting.
If you want to include a family photo in your card, or just have a family picture to hang on your wall or give as a gift (to grandparents, etc), set up an at-home studio.
Create a backdrop by using a solid colored sheet or blanket (or even curtains!) hung from a curtain rod, a broomstick, or, at my house, leftover electrical conduit. You can use safety pins to hang the sheet from this. Hang your backdrop between a ladder and another high object (I used a ladder with a box of diapers on top, and a piano with a box of diapers on top.)

Arrange for seating for your family in front of the backdrop. We used a piano bench before, and we have also used a chair for individual photos.

Dress in your Sunday clothes for a more formal picture, or whatever outfits you want for your portrait.

Set up your camera on a tripod and take a few test photos ahead of time. Use your camera remote to take pictures, or ask a friend to come by and take them for you. Take lots of pictures!

If inside doesn't appeal to you, take the photos outside! You'll have great natural light.

Crop your finished photo in the computer.
DECORATIONS
If you have a faux Christmas tree, it can be a great blessing at Christmas because you don't have to buy one. In some areas of this country, a tree can be $10. Where I've lived, a cut tree is always about $65-$120. Having a fake tree saves us money every year. If you don't already have a tree, but you have some paper, consider a paper tree taped on the wall (either butcher paper, painted green, pieced construction paper-whatever you have) and have your children help you make the ornaments to glue on it.

If you haven't been able to buy ornaments, consider homemade. Use popcorn, sew or crochet some ornaments, have your children make paper chains and paper ornaments. My grandfather carved baskets from walnut shells that we hang on our tree each year.

Cut some paper snowflakes to hang on the windows or on your tree.

Don't have a nativity, but would like to display one? Use this printable nativity to make one.

Use greenery from your own yard, whether it's evergreens and pine cones, boxwood, magnolia branches, to "spruce" up your home.



GIFTS

If you don't have money to spend, use what you have.

This might mean making over old clothing to fit your children. It may mean using the fabric (including scraps and old clothing) that you have on hand to make dolls, doll clothes, needed clothing, mittens, dress-up clothing, puppets, slippers, or a Bible cover. Click here for free printable sewing patterns and tutorials for all of the above and more.

If you want to give candy or food gifts, in your family's stockings, you can make your own! Make caramel popcorn, cookies, and candies from items on your pantry shelves. Wrap them beautifully and put them in stockings or under the tree.

What about your spouse? Perhaps there is a service that you can perform for your sweetheart. Is your husband needing some pants hemmed, or some shirts mended? Maybe there is a project around the house that you've been meaning to take care of, but haven't taken the time to do it. If you have the supplies already, take care of it for your gift.

GIVING TO FRIENDS

Consider homemade French Bread, cookies, breakfast muffins, or canned fruits and jams from your garden. Give herbs that you have dried from your garden or seeds you've collected.

What about charities? Do you want to give to others who are in need more than you are? If you're looking for ways to serve others without spending money, read here.

STOCKING STUFFERS
We tend to forget that traditionally, all of one's Christmas presents fit in one's OWN stocking. They weren't the big decorative stockings that we hang today; they were simply your own socks.
Today we tend to put most of our presents under the tree. So when you're wondering what to put in your family's stockings, don't feel like it has to be a lot of presents. It can be simple things.
Or, you can do things the old-fashioned way, and put all of the presents in the stockings!

Here are some other ideas for stockings:
-Printable paper dolls and paper toys
-A coloring book made from printable pictures found online.
-Bookmarks
-Handkerchiefs: I make these for my children and they really like them! I have used an old top sheet (after the bottom sheet wore through), as well as flannel, muslin, and broadcloth. My children like these with their initials embroidered into a corner.
-Hair ribbons and barrettes: Take the ribbons you've been saving and turn them into hair ribbons. Change simple old barrettes into something different using a few tutorials.
-Jewelry: Have any bits of broken jewelry? Using a pair of needle-nosed pliers, put those together into something new.
-Candy and cookies
-Nuts or raisins from your pantry (bought in bulk and then repackaged into smaller packages, tied with ribbon)
-apples and oranges
-Click here for printable paper dolls, 3-D toys, bookmarks, gift tags and boxes, and more frugal gift ideas.

LET OTHERS KNOW
If your needs are tight this year, its okay to let others know. This might mean having grandparents buy needed clothing for your child. It might mean that someone you know shares their hand-me-downs with you and you wrap some as gifts for your children. Last year, a friend gave us 4 outgrown scooters from her children, and we put them under the tree.

Perhaps you can do the same for another family this year, who may need baby or toddler toys and books that your children are no longer using.

If you sew, let others know. Many older women who don't sew anymore have quite a large amount of fabric. They may not be sewing anymore, but would love to bless someone else who COULD use that fabric. You may be able to make many gifts from this fabric. Perhaps your children need a warm blanket on their bed. A quilt made from other's leftover fabric can fill that need. A warm dress, pajamas, a fabric crown, etc. could all be under your tree this year. They will be under mine, thanks to several kind women who shared their fabric with me this year.

A Special Thanks to Brandy for taking the time to put this special post together. May the Lord use it to bless others.

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This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday

A Handmade Christmas

Things I Love Thursday

Frugal Fridays

Real Life Blog

Tightwad Tuesday

PennyPinchingParty

Low-fat Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread...

I found this recipe and could hardly believe how wonderful it is, especially being low-fat! You can't even tell! Seriously! It slices so good, and its so moist!

Pumpkin Bread Recipe
Ingredients:
•1-1/2 cups of unbleached, all-purpose flour
•1-1/4 tsp. baking soda
•1 tsp. salt
•1 tsp. cinnamon
•1/2 tsp. nutmeg
•1/2 tsp. cloves
•1 cup canned pumpkin puree (I actually used fresh cooked pumpkin)
•1 cup firmly-packed brown sugar
•1/2 cup low-fat or nonfat buttermilk
•1 large egg
•1 Tbsp. canola oil
•1/4 cup chocolate chips (I added more like 2/3 cup ;)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves together in a small bowl.

In a large bowl, beat pumpkin puree, brown sugar, buttermilk, egg and oil together. Add dry ingredients to wet, stirring just until moistened (over-mixing will cause the bread to become too tough). Add chocolate chips. (Bake for approx. 45 to 55 minutes.)

Be sure to visit: Tasty Tuesday and Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays

Gratituesday...

God is so good to bless and encourage us homemakers! Last week, this is a special blessing that I received in the mail as a result of winning a giveaway at Jeannie's blog.

The prize had a beautiful vintage apron in it that happened to be blue- my favorite color!

(Must be why God gave me so many boys!?)

There was also a lovely candle, spices for pies (which I used in the pumpkin pie last week), Earl Grey Tea, a pie making book of recipes (love recipe books!), and then there was that super cool rolling pin!

I have looked my whole town over trying to find one of those to help me make Laura's graham crackers! (Do you know how hard it is to roll out those graham crackers with a full-sized rolling pin?!!?)
I am so grateful for these blessings! They were such an encouragement to me!

To learn more or to participate in Gratituesday, visit Heavenly Homemakers!

Washing Cast Iron...

I do know that there are times that there's no substituting soap and water but I've found that I can avoid it often by 'washing' my cast iron with fat! I simply dip a paper towel in the fat and wipe away everything in the pan- scrambled eggs come right out! ;)

I think I've told you a little before about rendering beef fat, well, that's what I use. You could use lard or other fats of your choice but I love my beef fat- it's free and it keeps my pans good and conditioned!

For more Kitchen Tips, visit Tammy's Recipes!

A special thanks...

A big thanks to Rachel at K95.5!

She kindly included my recipe for Steak Casserole on her program!

Thought some of you might want to click over and see what else is cookin' on Rachel's program!