Party Prep

The infamous shared 7th birthday party is today.  I am sure I will have plenty of hilarious updates for you all after that.

For now I'll give you a glimpse at what we've come up with..

Gift bags:

marble (kids like marbles it's just a fact)

small pencil (you know the 80s kind where you can pull the tips out)

eraser (two for one here... leftover from Kid's halloween at school)

7 bead necklace (Kid laid out the patterns and I strung them)

(Yes Kid wrote her name in a different style on EVERY bag... it only took her 2 days to do it)

The grand total for 20 gift bags was $15 and that included the cost of the beads.

The cake:

Kid told me last night that she wanted unicorn cupcakes.  Here is the deal some things like that are actually easier not done in miniature.  I played around and realized I could build a primitive unicorn off of the number 7 which made it's lack of realism intentional (I'm no dummy).

Take a 7 

Add a mane

And a horn

And an ear & a nonpareil for an eye

And you've got a perfectly adequate unicorn.

Kid came in and said "That's not exactly what I had in mind."

You're welcome.

I also made gluten free brownies with chocolate buttercream.

I used the new Betty Crocker gluten free mix which I found in my regular grocery store.  It was really good.  It tasted exactly like the old Gluten Free Pantry mix (which IMO is the best mix around).  These were indistinguishable from regular brownies.  I froze them as soon as they were cool (I have found that gluten free baked goods dry out really fast).  I'm just going to pull the plates out when we leave for the party and they will thaw on the plates in time to serve them.

Remember All The Difficulty I Had With This?

I never did end up showing you my finished Fall mantel display. I ended up getting more flowers and things looked a lot better. (I know this is RIVETING... it's all I've got time for today... so cut me some slack).
Well I have now encorporated some Halloween decorations (which we have lots of since Kid's b'day is Halloween). Those are framed photos from Kid's babyhood (don't tell Baby.. she thinks they are of her).
Anyway, our house is looking pretty awesome right now. We haven't bought any new decorations since we moved here. We've got some things that we all really love and this year Baby has been busy making her own Halloween crafts. We've got enough to bring a little touch of Halloween to most of our rooms. I just love the way a few decorations can turn the energy of the house up a notch. Everything just seems more funky and festive and cozy. Bring Christmas on. Bring it.

Now I just have to sew up a Native American costume for Kid... complete with beadwork... that will be fun.

Recipe Redo Roundup

I've had a lot of recipe revisions as of late... I can't even remember if I've put them up already or not... so forgive me if this is not new info. If you don't already know I am committed to making homemade, healthy, and fast dinners SEVEN FREAKING NIGHTS A WEEK. I don't post a recipe unless everyone in the family gives it a big thumbs and we have had it multiple times. I don't think I've ever posted a recipe that takes longer than 30 minutes from start to finish... even with kids interrupting my mojo. In fact most of the recipes I post take about 15 - 20 minutes. Not sure why I shared that... just a little FYI I guess... and some encouragement that anyone can do this (without going totally insane).

The Redos:

Remember my Brown Sugar & Ginger Salmon (which is simple, fast, and DELICIOUS)... well... I've adopted the same technique and just changed the flavors up. So read the original recipe for cooking times and prep info. I buy frozen wild sockeye salmon filets. I buy them in pre-portioned 6 oz filets... I cook two for our family of 4 and divide them into 3 oz portions for serving. The recipe amounts are listed per 6 oz filet... adjust according to your salmon filet size.

Honey & Orange Glazed Salmon
salt & pepper salmon filets
drizzle filets with honey (about 1.5 t for a 6 oz portion)
sprinkle with finely grated orange zest (about 1/2 t per 6 oz portion)


Honey Mustard Glazed Salmon
salt & pepper salmon filets
rub dijon mustard onto each filet (1/2 t per 6 oz portion)
drizzle honey over mustard (about 1/2 t per 6 oz portion)

The kids go CRAZY for these two versions.

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Remember my Salmon Noodle Casserole? (aka Tuna Noodle Casserole... I just prefer to serve my kids salmon since it isn't mercury laden... but you can use tuna) Well that was merely a slight redo on the traditional recipe I grew up with and it used Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup... which is not only not organic but has MSG. So this recipe was tabled for awhile until I found a way to substitute organic ingredients.

Here are my new substitutions...

The resulting recipe is actually even better than the original.
Because this soup is not as concentrated I use 1/3 of the can. I pour the rest into an ice cube tray and store the cubes in a freezer bag. When I make the casserole the next time I just throw half the soup cubes in my casserole dish and microwave them to defrost and then proceed with the recipe.
This brand of salmon is FANTASTIC, much more moist and flavorful, and breaks down better in the sauce... plus I feel good about the fishery.
Because the soup is thinner I just mix it with 1/4 c mayo and 1.5 t dijon mustard (no milk is necessary). I blend in the drained salmon and season with salt and pepper.
I also often throw in about a cup of diced mushrooms (Kid loves mushrooms!) and toss with the noodles and bake as originally directed.

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And a new one (to be posted with photo just as soon as I make it again):

This past week I threw together a fabulous mexican inspired dish that the kids loved. It was a good change up for my turkey & black bean taco filling...
2 T olive oil
3/4 c diced red onion (half a med onion)
2 c frozen corn kernels
1 can drained black beans
8 oz coarsely chopped rotisserie chicken (great use for that weekly chicken!)
seasonings: garlic powder, ground oregano, lots of cumin, salt & pepper
(sorry but I seasoned to taste and didn't measure)

Heat oil in pan, add onion and corn and cook until onions are translucent and corn is heated through. Add drained beans and chicken and season well.
Serve with seasoned rice.
I divided this into two dinners.
One half makes 4 dinner sized meals of 1/2 c rice with 1 c chicken filling for 330 calories.
There will be half left to use again another night as taco filling.

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As for seasoned rice... I used to buy the prepackaged boxes of rice (Near East brand)... but realized that I could do it myself for a lot cheaper.
The key is to remember that the spice packets they include have a lot of spice & salt in them... don't be stingy or it won't be as good. I make my rice on the stove top with the basic recipe of 1 part rice to 1.75 parts liquid (I fine 1:2 is too much liquid). I almost always use half chicken stock and half water for my liquid. I add 1T of oil (usually olive but I'll use sesame for asian flavored rice) to the cold pot of rice & liquid then add seasonings (garlic & onion powder, cumin, chili powder & ground oregano, and salt for mexican flavored rice) bring pot to a boil, turn down to a simmer cover and cook until liquid is absorbed.

Next time I make these recipes I'll measure the seasonings... but with a little tasting as you go you should be able to get it right.

I'd Like To Pass It Along

Is there anyone in a financial bind who could use GIRL summer clothes size 18 months (or thereabouts)?

As I have mentioned before (and I'm sure you have gleaned based on her personality) Baby wears clothes. I have plenty of play quality clothes (if you don't mind the occasional stain here and there) that I'd be happy to pass on to someone in need of them.

Let me know.

I've got things that range from 12-18, 18, and 18-24 from last spring & summer.

Money Saving With Mrs F

Okay I really am exhausted but I've been sitting on some new finds that I wanted to pass around to the rest of you.

Through my frugal blog reading I have discovered a site that lists Redbox codes. So far we haven't had to pay for a rental yet.


Also in the last month or so I've snagged free magazine subscriptions to Martha Stewart Living, Body + Soul, Woman's Day, Metropolitan Home, and Family Fun. I'm actually turning down free magazines now since I don't want more than I can read. I have found out about these offers at Money Saving Mom. Some of these offers come through Mercury Magazines, right now they are offering a free subscription to Automobile Magazine. The other offers came from Reward's Gold, right now they are giving away Women's Day. You need to fill out a short survey to qualify but all the magazines are completely free with no strings attached. Once you sign up for a magazine at either of these sites they will email you more offers... again... totally free. The best thing about this is that I LOVE magazines when I have the time to go through them... but...I hate when they pile up and take over the place. Since they're free I don't feel compelled to keep them around. If the new issues come I just put the old ones out at the curb... guilt free.

Also, did you know you can get the Sunday paper (with coupons) at the dollar store... for... a dollar? I saw ours at a Dollar General and have since googled it and it seems this is a fairly common dollar store occurrence. If you are a coupon clipper this might be worth checking into.


Finally, last night I was working out to yesterday's Oprah. She did a show with 3 top chefs and had them come up with budget friendly family meals for a full week (each). Go HERE to see the menu plans & recipes.

Pizza! Pizza!

Pizza Dough
(this recipe makes 2 pizzas!!!)
2 c water
3 t sugar
2 t salt
3 T olive oil
2.5 c whole wheat flour
2.5 c all purpose flour
1.5 t baking powder
3/4 t garlic powder
1/2 t onion powder
2 1/4 t yeast

I make this dough in my bread machine. I add the ingredients in the order they are listed and set it to the dough cycle. This makes a double batch of dough which is enough for 2 full sheet pans (12x16) with fairly thick crust (Pizza Hut) or I can make 4 thin crust. You could probably make 4 thick crust in a 9 x 13 or round pizza pan. I divide the dough into two balls and put one in a freezer safe tupperware (spray it with non stick spray first) and put it in the freezer. The other ball of dough I leave to rise in a greased bowl on the counter, it will take about an hour to double in size. The frozen dough will thaw in the fridge in a day. I put it in the fridge in the morning and I put it on the counter to double before dinner on the night I plan to use it. It is DEFINITELY worth doubling the dough for ease of prep the second pizza day.

To make this dough by hand: dissolve the sugar and yeast in warm (100-120 degree) water. Once it is dissolve pour it in a large mixing bowl. Add 1 cup of flour, olive oil, baking powder & spices. Mix together. Add flour a cup at a time until the dough pulls away from the and starts to form a sticky ball. Let rest in bowl for 7 minutes. Then turn onto lightly floured surface and knead for 8 minutes, using as little flour as needed to keep from sticking. Divide dough in two balls and proceed as above. (You can also make this in a mixer with a dough hook for the kneading... start off with a paddle for the mixing).

This is how the dough should look when it is kneaded (either by machine or by hand):

This is how I divide it up. One is for the freezer and one is for that night's pizza:

This is what the dough looks like once it has doubled in bulk:


Now this is how I make my pizzas:

Turn your oven on to 400.

Flour a surface big enough to roll out your dough.

I turn my risen dough onto the lightly floured surface.

I lightly dust the top of the dough with flour and punch it down.

I use a big rolling pin to make a rectangle. You can easily just push it into shape with your hands you don't need a rolling pin.

I oil my sheet with 2 T olive oil. This makes a HUGE flavor boost and crust lusciousness you can't achieve without it and the little bit of oil is worth the calories.

I pick my dough up stretching it with my knuckles to get the pizza to the size of my pan (not complicated... if you rip your dough just pinch it together). This is a generous portion of dough so getting it to size is not hard.


I place my dough in the pan and brush the edge of my crust with olive oil. I just dip my pastry brush (use your fingers) in the oil from the bottom of the pan.

I then take 2-3 T of tomato paste and use my fingers to spread it around the pizza (not the crust).
Then I sprinkle the entire pizza lightly with coarse salt (Kosher or Sea Salt)... make sure you get the crust! Trust me. This extra layer of tomato flavor really enhances the pizza and the salt makes your crust like bread sticks.

Pop your pizza in the oven for 5 minutes.
This cooks the tomato paste in and gets the dough a head start. (It's how the pizza guys do it too). When you top your pizza you'll only have to cook it until your toppings are done instead of taking 20 minutes your pizza will be ready in 5-10 minutes. This extra pre-bake is worth it.

Spread on about 1/2 c of tomato sauce right on top of the baked on tomato paste.

Top your pizza with about 2 cups of cheese.

Go crazy with your toppings.

Lower your oven to 375 and bake your pizza until your cheese is melted.

Enjoy.


Want to know how long all this takes?
To make the dough 5-25 minutes (depending on how you make it).
The dough rises for one hour.
To make the pizza takes 15 minutes hands on prep time and 10-15 hands off.
So once you have your dough you've got pizza on the table in less than 30 minutes!

More Compacting In The Kitchen

I wrote a post about our "compacting in the kitchen" and how we had taken our food budget and knocked it in half without sacrificing the quality of our food (organic fruits & vegetables & diary & grains & eggs, hormone & antibiotic free local meats).

Well, I've been at it for another month and have come up with even more ways to cut our food budget. I am now under $400 a month for our family of 4 (without cutting coupons). Check back and I'll write out a list of what we're doing now.

Okay...

#1 On Sunday night I buy a rotisserie chicken. I cut off the breasts and legs and put them in a tupperware for sandwich meat. I set aside the carcass with the wings. On Monday I put it in a pot with onion, celery & carrot and cover it with water. I simmer it for 2 hours and drain it through a mesh sieve. That's stock people. I then pick off the remaining chicken and add that with some honey, plenty of salt, diced carrot & celery and whatever else I feel like throwing in. That's soup.
On Friday whatever chicken may be left from the legs & breasts I shred and put on our weekly pizza. It's delish. One chicken... 5 lunches... 2 dinners.

#2 Ground turkey is my friend. I buy a pound every week. I brown it up with salt, pepper, garlic powder & ground oregano. It's now good to go in just about anything. I usually divide it into two 1/2 pound portions. One I use that night and the other I put in a freezer bag. The day you are going to use it put it in your fridge and it will be thawed by dinner. I take 1/2 pound and add it to 1/2 jar of pasta sauce w/ 1/2 T sugar and I have meat sauce. I take a 1/2 pound and add it to a can of drained balck beans heat it in a skillet w/ salt, chili powder & cumin and I have taco filling. Make chili, make shepard's pie, top your pizza with it! It's so freaking versatile... I want to marry it!

#3 Random veggie storage tips... cause if I paid $3 a pound for organic produce I do not want them to go bad!...
Asparagus - trim the ends and put them in a glass of water... like a bouquet... they'll stay fresh & firm for days
Heads of lettuce - remove the twist tie, discard any bruised leaves, and shake off all excess water (from the sprinkler). Wrap in paper towels & put back in your plastic vegetable bag. Take off leaves as you need them and wash them then. Your head of lettuce will stay fresh over a week (probably over 2 weeks). If you want separate leaves for sandwiches at the ready... take them off wash and dry them (gently so not to bruise) and layer in a tupperware between paper towels... they'll also stay fresh over a week.
Keep your potatoes & onions in your fridge.
Once something is ripe and you don't want it to over ripen put it in the fridge... ie avocados, stone fruit... it will help retard the ripening and you may be able to eat them before they are too far gone on your counter. Bananas will keep the same way but the peel will brown.

#4 Make your own pizza. I'll post the full recipe for this another day. I use my bread machine but you can do this in a mixer or by hand with little extra effort... I used to make it by hand all the time. I make enough dough for two pizzas and once it is kneaded divide it up let half rise and put the other half in a oiled freezer proof tupperware in the freezer. The next time we make pizza I just take it out and put it in the fridge that morning. Before dinner I let it rise on the counter. It really takes little effort and I can roll it out and put it in the oven WAY faster than the pizza guy could ever bring it. Plus we use up all sorts of stuff as toppings.

Design On A Dime

I love holiday decorating and I love making a big deal out of each special day. This year, even before the budget crisis, I had decided to stop buying holiday decorations as part of our compacting efforts. I find it is very hard not to want *new* decorations for every holiday... every single year. Places like Target do an amazing job of turning out new and improved decorations that always seem to one up the ones that they put out (and I bought) the year before. I am always fighting the strong urge to give into this marketing powerhouse. It's amazing how effective it is. Who would know that you can actually feel somewhat humiliated about your past heart shaped purchases upon spying new Valentine's Day decorations of all things? I wish I was kidding... but seriously... those marketing folks know what they're doing. And that is mostly the point behind the compacting. To sit with what you have. To enjoy what you already own without feeling that something *new* is something *better*.

And so I give you tissue paper hearts.

I cut out about 20 hearts (using every single scrap) from 2 pieces of old tissue paper. The kids hung them *artfully* with plenty of scotch tape and hung them in all of our windows.
The light shines through them like stain glass (not so much the 12 yards of scotch tape... but whatever).
And our house was instantly transformed into the most festive house on the street... both inside... and out.

Snack Time

One of the main ways I'm saving money is by slashing our food budget. I buy hardly any pre-made packaged foods (in fact I don't buy any). But my kids are just as hungry as they used to be. So once or twice a week I make muffins. They are tasty, cheap, and quick. They are also a really good way to use up fruits and vegetables that are starting to fade. These come together so fast that I can throw them together when we walk in the door after school and they are out of the oven about half an hour later... which is just how long it takes Kid to actually put away her coat and backpack so it works out just fine.


Basic Muffin Recipe
taken from How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

2 c all purpose flour
6 T sugar (1/2 c if you like them pretty sweet)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 c milk
3 T melted butter (or veg oil)
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt

Heat oven to 400.
Whisk dry ingredients together.
Stir in wet ingredients just until incorporated. Do Not Over Mix... lumps are fine!
Bake in muffin tins until toothpick comes out clean, about 16 minutes.
Makes 12 muffins.


You can take this recipe and change it up any which way. I add shredded apple and carrot and cinnamon. Or I throw in frozen blueberries and cranberries, orange zest, and vanilla. You could put in mashed banana. They are infinitely flexible.

I always use half all purpose and half whole wheat flour. I also always dust the tops with raw sugar (the big crystals) before I bake them to give a little something special to them. This recipe is not too sweet, so it doesn't kill you calorie wise either... they are about 130 calories a pop. His original recipe calls for 1/4 c sugar as the base and adding more per your add ins. I find the 6 T works fine for most everything, but if you like a pretty sweet muffin you might want to start out with 1/2 c.

I store these in a big tupperware container with a paper towel underneath and the lid just slightly ajar. You want a little circulation or the tops will get moist.

Our Daily Bread

This bread is a perfect sandwich bread. The crumb is nice and even and tight without being too dense. It is easy to slice to boot. I have messed around with this recipe a lot and have tried all sorts of combinations. It is really difficult to produce a good sandwich loaf at home using 100% whole wheat flour. This balance turns out a really good loaf. I have also discovered using white sugar instead of honey (or molasses, or brown sugar) makes for the most consistent crumb. Go figure.

1.5 c water
2 c bread flour
2.25 c whole wheat flour
2 T powdered milk
3 T white sugar
1.5 t salt
2 t yeast
2 T butter

I'm using a bread machine and this is the order in which I load my machine. Check your manual. I bake it on the regular bread setting with the light crust setting. If you don't have a bread machine... or have one that you've never used... hop to! It has made it possible for us to make bread frequently with little trouble. It takes a couple of minutes to load the machine and then we're done. I usually make our right after dinner. When it is done I take it out and let it cool then double bag it in gallon ziploc storage bags that are inverted into each other (I do not seal them!). The bread stays nice and fresh this way for a couple of days.

Holy Schnikeys

Alright, I was doing my daily blog perusing and stumbled upon the best freaking deal ever!

First of all this is legitimate.  

Go to Restaurant.com.  Search for restaurants in your area.  This site typically offers gift certificates for dine-in restaurants for about 60% off.  So you can get a $25 gift certificate for $10.  But it gets better because from now until Saturday the 31st they are offering  70% off your total order (code: SUPER).  That means you can get restaurant gift certificates for 90% off.

At first I thought the restaurants would be cheesy chains... no... they are all independent restaurants.  Each one has their own restrictions (like not applicable towards alcohol... but some exclude weekends so check first).  I got a $25 off for $10 to one of the nicest restaurants in town.  Then I got two $10 off for $3 to a local pizza joint.  So that's $45 worth of food for $16... but after the discount I got $45 worth of food for ... get this... $4.50!!!  

The fancy restaurant requires us to order at least $35 worth of food to use the $25 off certificate... so that's $10 out of pocket for a nice meal.  The pizza joint requires a $15 order to use the $10 off certificate... so we can get a whole pizza and drinks for $5 out of pocket.  Craziness!  Add that all up and we'll pay $24.50 out of pocket (gift certificates and cash needed at restaurants to get a qualifying order) and have 3 restaurant meals out for a family of four.  I think that is a deal.

And we really needed something like this to come our way.  My dad is coming into town this weekend for Baby's birthday and offered to babysit the kids so Mr F and I could go out.  I was kind of upset since we couldn't afford to go anywhere.  Now we can!

Compacting In The Kitchen

I know this is long... but it's chock full of information. If you are trying to cut back but don't know how this might be worth reading. Skip half way down (below the bold line) to check out the dollar for dollar changes we're making now. We are saving some serious money without giving up our quality of food. Sure a few of the changes are more time consuming... but not as much as they sound. Last year I wouldn't have thought there was much I could take out of our spending... I was seriously deluded. Oh and check out the link at the end of the post.

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Not even a year ago we were spending over $200 a week for our groceries... and that didn't count takeout or eating out (2-3 times a week), or Mr F's lunches at work. That might seem like a lot but it's actually the national average! At that time we had been buying high end brands and some (more and more over time) organic foods. But we were throwing out rotting produce and meat EVERY week.

I started meal planning and that helped some but the lure of the $5 Hot & Ready often meant I pushed meals around and/or never got around to making them. Before we left MI I had worked pretty hard to lower our grocery spending to around $180/week for nearly all organic foods but we were still doing plenty of take out and still wasting food. When we moved we had a completely stocked fridge/freezer and pantry of partial opened foods that we had to give away!

Moving here actually gave me a clean slate and instead of filling them back up with everything we had had before I decided to only buy things AS NEEDED. Which meant not buying every kind of vinegar, oil, and baking ingredient "just in case", etc. I really switched my head space from buying things to make a new recipe to trying not to buy things... like if I don't have "x" let's just scrap that and find something I can make with what I've got. Is my cooking somewhat less adventurous?... yep... but it's also a hell of a lot cheaper.

When we started "compacting" a couple of months ago I decided to take meal planning one step further. Instead of thinking of meals and then seeing which components we had and buying the rest, I started carefully assessing what we had and trying to make a meal plan around buying as little as possible. It's a subtle but important difference that resulted in... oh... $40-$50 a week. To make that work most effectively we do a monthly stock up on our basic meal components that we eat EVERY SINGLE WEEK: frozen vegetables, frozen fish filets, pasta, rice, peanut butter, jam, butter, popcorn kernels, instant oatmeal, dry cereal, pancake mix,chicken stock, tomato soup, canned salmon, pasta sauce, and apple juice.

Did you get all that? Because we are buying all organic foods the cheapest way to get them is to buy the store brand. Organic food rarely has coupons (sigh) so the store brands are where it is at... and the bulk bins! I have found (and believe me I have diligently searched and price checked) that Whole Foods has the cheapest (and best quality) of store brand organics. We don't have one here but Mr F drives about an hour and half with a cooler in his trunk and loads us up. It is winter so the cheapest (and best quality) produce is frozen.

Now at this point we don't buy more than a months worth of food... because we don't have a chest freezer or a lot of pantry space... and we can't front that much money. The stock up costs us about $80-$140 bucks depending on how much we needed to replace. That lets us limit our weekly spending to fresh ingredients: dairy, eggs, meat, bread, some vegetables, and fruit. Doing that brought my weekly spending down to about $75-$80 with the monthly stock up bringing our monthly spending to about $440. When we started compacting Mr F also started packing his breakfast and lunch and we only got take out or a restaurant meal once a week. So our total monthly food budget went from about $1200 a month to $520 (that counts one night of takeout once compacting started).

Now we are down to $400 a month... maybe less... time will tell. Here are the changes we've made (some since Compacting some since January):

From buying 2-3 loaves of organic bread each week for $4.50 each
To making our own bread in a bread machine (it was free!) for $1.25 per loaf

From buying lunch meat for Mr F's & my lunches for $9 - $12 a week
To buying a rotisserie chicken and eating chicken & chicken salad sandwiches for $5 a week

From making 2 cups of coffee every time we made coffee for a total of 2 pounds of coffee a week $16
To making 1 cup at a time and not pouring any down the drain for a total of 1 pound of coffee a week $8

From having several beverages in the house to having ONE beverage choice other than water per person. KId gets milk, Baby (still breastfed) gets apple juice, Mr F & I have coffee w/half & half. Savings for us $12- $16 dollars a week!

We don't have premade packaged snacks we now have fruit, yogurt, cereal, pb &j, or popcorn for snacks. Mr F & I have both lost 3 pounds in 3 weeks just by getting rid of packaged snacks. It took a little adjustment but the kids are doing just fine ;) Once a week I make homemade muffins using up whatever apples or carrots are getting old. Savings of $5-$10 a week. (and a pound a week)

From ordering pizza once a week for $17 (it was fantastic)
To making it or having a frozen pizza for $4-$5. Saving $12-$13 a week!

I make exactly 4 portions of dinner. Kid, Mr F & I each have one and Baby has 1/2. The remaining 1/2 is immediately packed up for Kid's lunch the next day.

I have lowered our protein portion down an ounce per person and raised the carbs up a small bit to make up the difference.

I have figured out the costs of each dinner I typically make and keep that in mind when I'm meal planning. Tomato & Meatball Soup is about $5 for 4, Brown Sugar & Ginger Salmon w/ rice & broccoli is about $12 for 4. Our dinners have not lost any of their nutritional value I just try to plan more cheap meals versus expensive per week.

Using frozen vegetables saves me about $1-$2 per pound which is $7-$14 a week. And I have mastered the art of cooking them so they are not mushy and you would never know it wasn't fresh broccoli.

We do not go out for dinner. Period. Saving us about $80- $200 a month. For us, right now, we just can't afford to. And the expense just isn't worth it for what you get when your dining companions are 2 and 6 years old.

For our sweet tooth we still have dessert.... just not lots of choices. I have my Trader Joe's dark chocolate covered caramels. The kids & Mr F have Newman's Own Organic Fig Newman's or Newman's O's (cheapest at Target). We have vanilla ice cream and we have chocolate sauce. We make a simple icing-less chocolate cake that is a depression era recipe that has no dairy or eggs (it's moist and it is cheap) once a week. We make cookie dough and freeze them in portioned balls... so we only bake what we need for that dinner. We eat less of them saving money and calories. I'm not sure how much money this saves certainly a couple of bucks a week.

My whole philosophy with all this is to strip it down to what we NEED. We buy fresh fruit as needed. No more bowl on the counter with rotting fruit just because something looked good at the store that day. When it's gone we buy more. That's the great thing about living in modern times.. we can just go to the store. I find we don't need to go as much as we thought we did... we can make do with what's on hand. And the less times you go to the store (in my experience) the less you spend.

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Oh and if you are at all interested in coupons or don't know where to start hop over here. Scroll down and she's got an introductory post... but, dude, she just got 21 jars of Ragu for less than a buck! It's almost enticing enough to make me cross back over the conventional/organic divide!

Being Frugal Is The New Black

That's what I tell myself at least. Because if it's not I'm becoming a nerd with a capital N-E-R-D. I just spent an inordinate amount of time this weekend registering for online grocery coupons, trolling our local stores' circulars, joining Freecycle, and filling out customer surveys (in the desperate hopes of winning big in the monthly drawing). The word is out... saving money is in... and I'm bringing my A game in the hopes of, well, not going under (not without a fight at least).

In the past year I've lowered our grocery budget from over $200/week to under $100. We've gone from expensive chlorine-free diapers to Target brand (sorry about that one Mother Earth... hopefully you'll survive). Outside of the diapers (the savings from which is HUGE... we're talking over 50%) we've actually reduced our household food and upkeep expenditures while at the same time making a complete overhaul to all "green" body products; "green" household cleaners; hormone free/antibiotic free/humane certified meats; all organic dairy, produce, and dry goods... even our butter people... our stinking butter!

Intrigued? Bored? Whichever I'll be back to update this post with exactly how we're doing it. Are we skimping?... you freaking betcha. It is not a snack buffet around here (as we're apt to say to Kid quite a lot these days)... but hey there are unexpected upsides to that as well (Mr F's down 3 pounds without even trying). But it's doable... highly doable. So for now we're doing it and hopefully we'll get even better at it as time goes on. (I told you we're down about $1000 a month since we starting compacting right? So I think we might be on to something here.)

More Tomorrow!

Compacting Christmas Videos I Made Before I Got Pissed Off With The FDA

Tune into this one for the "blooper" moment:

Listen Up!

Wondering how the Compacting is going? Well. Very, very, well. Shockingly so.

The results are in... aka... the credit card statement has arrived! And take a guess at how much we saved in one month of Compacting?

1100 freaking dollars folks! Believe it.

Now here is the truly astounding thing... I still went to Target. We still ate organic. I even bought the kids some clothes. We did not go without.

Changes we made:

• I cut my grocery spending nearly in half by meal planning around what we had on hand each week and trying to buy as little as I could get away with. While I've been meal planning all along planning this way meant I was typically only buying fresh diary, meat & vegetables. Pantry items Mr F stocked up on at Whole Foods which saves us considerably.
  
• Mr F started taking a sandwich to work everyday. FYI my grocery spending included his new lunch.
  
• I enforced a "only make as much coffee as you are going to drink" rule. We had been dumping half our coffee every week... which was $7 down the drain. Might not seem like a big deal but it is the small things that add up!
  
• I shopped (at Target etc) only for what I needed RIGHT then. Not things I might need next month... that is definitely my habit at both Target and the grocery store. By cutting out my "anticipatory needs" at each shopping trip (a serious challenge I assure you!) I cut my spending in half at almost every trip.
  
• Instead of ordering pizza we started making frozen pizza on Friday nights (or this week homemade).
  
• We didn't cut out going out to eat entirely but we definitely made cheaper choices and really weighed out if going out was worth it.... sometimes it wasn't (that's when you want to have a few frozen pizzas in the freezer).
  

That's it. Basically by being more conscious of our spending we cut out a thousand bucks of unnecessary spending. That seems crazy to me... but it is true. Did it take some thought and self control? Yes. But was it actually difficult? No. I wasn't sure we'd save that much even if we cut out all spending outside of food and gas... I'm shocked. And I didn't cut out all spending. I think adopting a "do I need this today" shopping test is key. Does it mean you might have to go back to the store tomorrow? Maybe... but I think you'll find you don't.

I'm excited to see what our savings are for this month. I'm hoping that we'll be able to stick in the same range of spending (which was the lowest since we've had kids). If we can that means we are covering tuition and an addition $300 bucks that could go to something fun like a VACATION. I feel so much more in control and positive about our financial outlook... and that is saying something!

The Anti-Black Friday Exercise

I was over at the New Dream website (which I found while trying to assess our carbon footprint the other day) reading their Simplifying the Holidays pamphlet when I came across a fascinating Compacting Christmas activity.

They suggest adding up ALL the money you spent on Christmas (still have your receipts from last year?!!!), and when they say all they really mean all... stocking stuffers, wrapping paper, gifts... the whole nine yards. Then see what percentage it is of your annual take-home income. If you discovered you spent more on Christmas then say your year's heating bill would that change your spending perspective? Or if it's more than you spent on a full month of food?

It's one thing to look back and realize you spent a hell of a lot more than you intended (or with all the little incidentals... then you realized). It's a whole different thing to realize you spent more than you did on a house payment. Not that we did... or you did... but you know what I'm saying. In general I think most of us set up our spending either based on guilt, or precedence, or an arbitrary number... I don't think very many of us do it from this *whole picture* perspective. I know we never have.

When we get home I'm going to look up our last year's spending and I'll let you know what our percentage of spending was. I'll also let you know what I plan on spending this year.

This Week The Plan

Baby is a clingy nightmare. I'm trying to get something up...



This week I am really trying to buy as little as possible. I still have lots of stuff in the freezer and I really want to stop stock piling!
Menu:

Monday - Penne w/ Turkey Meat Sauce & broccoli

Tuesday - Salmon Noodle Casserole w/ green beans

Wednesday - Layered Turkey Enchiladas (I told you they were good)

Thursday - Turkey & Vegetable Faux Lomein

Friday - out

Saturday - Hamburgers, buns, broccoli

Sunday - Tomato & Meatball Soup


Kid's Lunches:

Monday - smoked salmon, apple, gogurt, milk, water, grilled chicken, mouse bread

Tuesday - hard boiled egg, apple, gogurt, milk, water, hedgehog bread, muffin

Wednesday - hard boiled egg, broccoli, gogurt, milk, water, spelt pizza (from school)

Thursday - muffin, apple, smoked salmon, gogurt, milk, water, pb & j

no school Friday


Diet & Exercise:
I'm going to just do the best I can. I'm going to track my calories and still stick to 1800. I'm going to set up my reformer and get back into the pilates.


Errands & Chores:
Baby is pretty sick. I'm tired. Not much is getting done.

Plenty Of Goodies In This One

Things I'm Making This Week

I'm trying some new recipes this week after stumbling upon them in this month's Better Homes And Gardens. I happen to have turkey in the freezer and an acorn squash sitting on the counter so these two caught my eye. The enchiladas are bit calorie heavy for us but I'll let you know if they were worth it. I'm hoping the chicken and gnocchi dish will turn out to be something like chicken & dumplings... we'll see. Either way I'm really working on using up stuff we have and trying to reduce our grocery spending and these two babies fit the bill. It's part of my compacting... bringing in less... spending less... and using up what we have. So simple... and yet so hard.

Layered Turkey Enchiladas
from Better Homes & Gardens

ingredients
1 lb. turkey breast tenderloin, cut in bite-size strips
1 16-oz. pkg. frozen sweet peppers and onions stir-fry vegetables
1 10-oz. can enchilada sauce
1/2 cup whole berry cranberry sauce
9 6-inch corn tortillas, halved
1 8 oz. pkg. Mexican blend shredded cheese (2 cups)
Lime wedges (optional)
Cilantro sprigs (optional)

directions
1. Position oven rack toward top of oven. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In extra-large skillet cook turkey in 1 tablespoon hot cooking oil over medium heat 4 minutes or until no longer pink. Add frozen vegetables, enchilada sauce, and cranberry sauces. Bring to boiling. Sprinkle salt and pepper.

2. In 2-quart baking dish layer one-third of the tortillas, then one-third of the cheese. Use a slotted spoon to layer half the turkey-vegetable mixture. Layer one-third tortillas, one-third cheese, remaining turkey-vegetables (with slotted spoon), and remaining tortillas. Spoon on remaining sauce from skillet; sprinkle remaining cheese. Bake 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Cut in squares. Serve with lime and cilantro. Serves 4.

nutrition facts
Calories 615, Total Fat (g) 25, Saturated Fat (g) 11, Monounsaturated Fat (g) 1, Polyunsaturated Fat (g) 3, Cholesterol (mg) 120, Sodium (mg) 1171, Carbohydrate (g) 52, Total Sugar (g) 16, Fiber (g) 6, Protein (g) 45, Vitamin C (DV%) 72, Calcium (DV%) 39, Iron (DV%) 14, Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

and this:

Chicken And Gnocchi With Squash
from Better Homes & Gardens

ingredients
1 1-lb. pkg. shelf-stable potato gnocchi
1 small acorn squash, halved and seeded
14 to 16 oz. chicken breast tenderloins
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh sage
2 Tbsp. milk
Tiny whole sage leaves
Grated nutmeg (optional)

directions
1. Prepare gnocchi according to package directions. Drain. Cover and keep warm.

2. Meanwhile, place squash, cut sides down; in a microwave-safe baking dish with 2 tablespoons water. Microcook, covered, on high (100 percent power) 7 to 10 minutes; rearrange once. Let stand, covered, 5 minutes.

3. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. In large skillet cook chicken in 1 tablespoon hot oil over medium heat 6 to 8 minutes, until no longer pink. Remove; cover, keep warm.

4. Scrape flesh from squash; mash. Transfer to hot skillet; stir in broth and chopped sage. Bring to boiling; simmer 1 minute. Stir in milk. Spoon into bowls. Top with chicken and gnocchi; sprinkle sage and nutmeg. Serves 4.

nutrition facts
Calories 366, Total Fat (g) 6, Saturated Fat (g) 1, Monounsaturated Fat (g) 1, Polyunsaturated Fat (g) 3, Cholesterol (mg) 59, Sodium (mg) 796, Carbohydrate (g) 50, Total Sugar (g) 1, Fiber (g) 4, Protein (g) 29, Vitamin C (DV%) 22, Calcium (DV%) 7, Iron (DV%) 10, Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Heck while I'm at it I'll make this too... I've got a whole bag of frozen shrimp (which I'll use in place of the scallops & shrimp). In fact the only thing I'll need to buy are the plum tomatoes! Added bonus is the super low calorie count... it'll help balance out those enchiladas.

Speedy Paella
from Better Homes & Gardens

ingredients
1 10-oz. pkg. frozen long grain white rice with vegetables (peas, corn and carrots)
1 Tbsp. cooking oil
1/2 lb. fresh sea scallops, (halve large scallops)
1/2 lb. cooked, peeled, deveined shrimp
4 plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1/2 to 1 tsp. ground turmeric
Salt
Ground black pepper
Chopped fresh parsley (optional)
directions
1. Prepare rice according to microwave package directions.

2. Meanwhile, in large skillet heat cooking oil over medium heat. Add scallops to hot oil in skillet; cook 3 minutes or until scallops are opaque. Add shrimp and tomatoes; heat through.

3. Transfer rice to bowl; stir in turmeric. Spoon seafood-tomato mixture over rice; lightly toss. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle fresh parsley. Serves 4.

nutrition facts
Calories 229, Total Fat (g) 5, Saturated Fat (g) 1, Monounsaturated Fat (g) 1, Polyunsaturated Fat (g) 3, Cholesterol (mg) 129, Sodium (mg) 374, Carbohydrate (g) 22, Total Sugar (g) 3, Fiber (g) 2, Protein (g) 24, Vitamin C (DV%) 25, Calcium (DV%) 5, Iron (DV%) 13, Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet