Posts Tagged ‘Frugal learning’
Making your own beans
Posted on: March 23, 2010
- In: Life
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Our family goes through beans like water. Bean and cheese tacos are consumed with delight. Almost every day. Which is great for this mama, because they are easy and always a sure win with both girls.
I’ve been making my own beans for a while that we usually eat within a few days, but decided to make enough to freeze.
Sort through your beans, discarding any beans that are split, halved or peeling.
Julia was insistent that the black beans were pinto and the pinto were black beans. I tried correcting her several times before I just dropped it. She smiled. I think she was just pulling my leg and I totally fell for it.
Wash your beans thoroughly.
Place in a large stock pot and cover with water. Put on a lid.
And wait.
And wait.
I try to let my beans soak at least 12 hours. What more information on why we soak beans? Check this out.
The next day I pour out all the water and rinse the beans thoroughly again. You’ll notice that the beans aren’t nearly as hard and are much larger.
Place back in the stock pot and cover with water (at least 3/4 full). I always add salt. I’d suggest at least a teaspoon to give it more flavor. For pinto beans, add in an onion cut into quarters (and if you have cooked bacon, add that too!).
Cook the beans on medium low heat, with the lid partially on (this allows them to still boil – more of a simmering boil) for about 3 hours, or until done.
Once they are done, allow to cool. Then bag them in 2 cup incriments (this is the amount in most cans of beans).
I didn’t have hardly any pinto beans, because we ate most of them before I got the chance to bag them. I started out with 2 cups of dried organic beans and walked away with 6 cups of black beans and 2 cups of pintos. Now, it might seem like a lot of work for such little return, but there is very little hands on time, the cost is super low (less than $3 for all the beans) and the benefits to making your own beans is worth the effort!
- In: Life
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You read that right. $38.25 to restock my pantry.
Amazing.
I went with Leah to Central Discount Grocery, which is a local discount store about 20 minutes from where we live. They sell expired or past date boxed items for pennies on the dollar. But last year, I decided I needed to get over my pickiness about that sorta thing. And now, I love it! Here’s a snap shot of what I scored today:
I couldn’t fit everything into one picture, so I left out items. In total, this is what I got:
– five boxes of individually packaged sun crystals (raw sugar)
– two boxes of Back to Nature cookies
– two boxes of Immaculate cookies
– four bottles of Classico spaghetti sauce
– two boxes of Back to Nature vanilla wafers
– one bag of rice crackers
– one box of Moon Pies (not the healthy things, but nothing says summer more than moon pies and RC cola)
– two bags of Smart Food popcorn clusters
– one bag of Back to Nature cherry granola
– six boxes of Cascadian Farms granola bars
– four boxes of Cascadian Farms cereal
– two boxes of Mother’s cereal
– four cans of Ro-tel
– two cans of Hunt’s all-natural tomato sauce
– four cans of Hunt’s all-natural dice tomatoes
– six boxes of Earth’s Best sunny day snack bars (granola bars for kiddos)
– two bottles of Annie’s organic BBQ sauce
– one bottle of Spectrum organic ranch dressing
– one bottle of Briannas blue cheese dressing
– one bottle of Welch’s reduce sugar jelly
– two boxes of Nature’s Path organic oatmeal (with cranberries and flaxseed)
– one box of Back to Nature’s cheddar crackers
Whew! Just writing that made me excited!! I don’t know what the grand total would be if I had paid full price, but I’d be willing to bet it’d be close to $150-200. I think Crystal of Money Saving Mom would be proud! 🙂
Green living, Part 1
Posted on: March 8, 2010
- In: Life
- 7 Comments
Last Wednesday, I had the privilege of speaking about “Green Living” to about 30 moms. I never realized how big of a topic green living is. Let me tell you, it’s huge. And slightly overwhelming. For the two days leading up to the speech, I started to get a little nervous. The night before Jonathan reassured me that 1) this isn’t a test, 2) people really just want to be entertained, 3) just talk like you’re talking to friends. I took these things to heart and feel like the presentation went really well.
They recorded the audio for the speech and the entire session (also featuring my friend, Leah – it happens to be her birthday so go say hi) will be available online in a couple of weeks. However, I thought I’d do a blog “series” on the three ways our family has gone green.
Why is our family striving to become green? Green living to me is a way to reveal to this world just one more aspect of Christ. Romans 1:19-20 (NLT) says “They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.” God has revealed Himself to this world through His creation. I want to do my part to ensure that His creation stays healthy and vibrate so that generations from now, people will still be able to see God’s hand through His creation.
One of the first steps we incorporated in becoming green was effectively using cloth.
The first step we’ve taken is using cloth bags instead of plastic bags. I keep cloth bags in my purse, my car and by my backdoor. I do this, so that they are easily accessible when I am going grocery shopping, running errands or even cleaning toys out of my car. I admit, it did take a little time to get use to using cloth bags when grocery shopping. I would forget them at home (still do sometimes!) or not bring enough along for all the grocery items. But, once I started having one on hand in my purse and keeping several in my car, I found it to be much easier.
The second step we’ve taken is using cloth napkins instead of paper towels. Jonathan would go through a roll of paper towels in a week if I didn’t watch out. So, when I purchased a 24 set of wash clothes and banished the paper towels, it was an adjustment to say the least. I love using wash clothes over paper towels: they are so much more absorbent, obviously reusable, and sturdy. I will say this, not all of our guests have been as easy going about using a wash cloth as a napkin. Most people don’t have a problem with it, especially since we’ve been doing it for a while, but in the beginning we did get some weird looks.
The third step we’ve taken is using cloth diapers instead of disposables. I’ve blogged about this topic a lot. I will say 3 things I’ve learned about in the last 18+ months of cloth diapering is: delay solids as long as possible; invest in a diaper sprayer – even if you don’t think you’ll use it you really will; and encourage early potty training. While it took Julia longer to catch on to peeing in the potty, she loved pooping from the first time we gave it a shot at 11 months. And she’s been pooping in the potty exclusively since 20 months. A-mazing.
The fourth step we’ve I’ve taken is using cloth pads instead of plastic pads. If you really want to read up on my “adventure” go here or here. Enjoy! 😉
- In: Life
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I am not a breakfast-for-dinner kinda gal. In fact, I firmly believe that eggs are not to be consumed in breakfast fashion after 10 am. But pancakes? Pancakes are a whole different story. Pancakes are so close to cake that, like cake, they may be eaten at any time of the day: morning, noon, night, or late, late night.
I used a basic pumpkin pancake recipe, switching one cup white flour for one cup whole wheat and adding 1/4 cup flax seed.
Mix together the dry ingredients.
Next add your wet ingredients (milk, egg, pumpkin puree, vinegar and oil). Mix until thickened.
When you’re cooking pancakes, wait until it’s “bubbly” to flip. The bubbles let you know the side facing down is done.
These pancakes are very filling and have just the right amount of sweetness. I served the pancakes with turkey bacon and applesauce.
Bon Appetit!
- In: Life
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Our family makes a regular practice of having daily quiet time for the girls. I have them both sit on blankets with toys and books (or coloring books and crayons for Julia) for about 30 minutes. Over the last several months I feel like I’ve hit a quiet time rut. It seems like we are always giving Julia the same books or the same toys and her interest is fading fast. I read a great idea nearly a year ago on Keeper of the Home about having quiet time bins. The idea is to have bins for each day of the week, containing something new for each of the days. The child only plays with those items/toys on that day. I’ve been wanting to put this into practice since first learning about it, but haven’t wanted to splurge on nice bins. That is until now.
Paul’s Discount is a local store in town. They just had their “Dollar Days” and guess what? Shoebox sized bins were on sale for $1. Sweet! I bought five and here’s what I made:
I am still working on filling them with great things I know Julia will enjoy each day. She’s thrilled about her “boxes” and was more than excited when she got to open it for quiet time yesterday.
Just to add some cheesiness… I have these little 16 oz containers inside each bin for Hannah. The containers hold one or two small books each. I did this 1) because I thought it was kinda adorable 2) to help Julia later understand that the contents of the bins are to be shared with her sister. When Julia did her quiet time, I pulled out the small containers for Hannah. Not surprising, Hannah liked the box more than the books or other toys she had!
- In: Life
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How in the world do you use yeast?
If there is one thing in the cooking world that mystifies me, it is using yeast for baking. I have only used it in my bread machine and have never ventured beyond that. I’m even apprehensive about the terms; testing the yeast, “it’s live” or “it’s active”, then there’s fresh yeast, dry active, or instant. Your water has to be just right, the room temperature just so… one wrong move makes everything go sour. It’s like everything has to be aligned perfectly for these little microorganisms to work.
What are some tricks, tips, help “bewares” that you can pass along?
- In: Life
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November came to a close yesterday, with me cooking very little, obtaining an awesome new crockpot (thanks babe and Black Friday!) and realizing how much I love having dinner done by 9am. I’d say No Cook November was a pretty good success, with just a few hiccups. It took me a little time to figure out just how to use the crockpot (what settings were best, how much liquid I really should add, etc). But once I got things more under control, I loved it and started experimenting more and more.
But November has come and gone, leaving us with a new month and a new goal.
Since we’re moving out this month, and will not have the benefit of our extra freezer, all our frozen meats/veggies, along with most of our canned goods, needs to go. That means, this month I am introducing:
Do It All December
Have a can of rotel?
Let’s use it!
Leftover bag of stuffing?
Toss it in the mix!
Packet of onion mix collecting dust in the back pantry?
One beef stew mixture coming right up!
This month I am cooking completely spur of the moment – for me at least – and forgoing my monthly meal plans and simply cooking what we have on hand. This could get interesting…. Yesterday we had chicken and veggies (in the crockpot to finish off NCN) and today I have beef stew (again, in the crockpot, because, hey, why not?). Tomorrow’s menu? Who knows? Pork and stuffing? Spaghetti? Pad Thai? We’ll see what mood strikes. We’ve got plenty of meat to carry us through and will only need to restock some can goods and vegetables. I’m hoping we’ll see our food budget drop as we get only the essentials over the next three weeks. I’m pretty excited about this new adventure and hope it turns out as well as NCN.
Here I come, Do It All December!
No Cook November update
Posted on: November 17, 2009
- In: Life
- 3 Comments
We are officially 17 days in to NCN.
How’s it going so far?
A-maz-ing.
Seriously.
I love “not” cooking.
I did actually cook this past weekend for house church, but aside from that my cooking has been pretty limited (I made breakfast once). Most of the recipes I have used are big hits. However there are a few duds. One night we had pumpkin soup. Dud. Well, in all fairness, it was much better once I added more salt. A lot more salt. But, I went into it knowing it might flop, so I grabbed a rotisserie chicken from New Pi as back up. Jonathan was grateful. 🙂
The best dinner (in my opinion) has been Maple Dijon Chicken or Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup. The first dish has sweet potatoes that turned into these delicious buttery morsels. The second dish has some nice kick to it and the chicken was so tender and juicy. We had no leftovers.
Speaking of leftovers… That has been the one down side to NCN. We aren’t getting as many leftovers as I planned. Most of the dishes have been consumed that same night or only enough is spared for just Jonathan’s lunch the next day. But that’s a nice problem to have when it comes to leftovers I suppose.
I’m not sure I could do a 365 crockpot plan, but I most definitely plan to keep using it more after November is up. We’ve got some crazy life changes coming in the next four months and I’ve no doubt the crockpot will be a staple in our home.
Monthly menu planning
Posted on: November 3, 2009
- In: Life
- 2 Comments
Whoa! I gotta say I’m excited at how excited everyone has been about my No Cook November! Hopefully all you ladies (and gents) will be inspired and start your own No Cook month and open up a little more time for yourselves.
My friend, Leah, asked me how I was liking NCN this afternoon.
I love it!
Hands down.
I know I’m only on day two, but there is something about having dinner “done” by 10 am that makes a girl smile.
Anyways, I thought I’d share what I do to plan for a month of meals.
We have a large monthly calendar that hangs on our fridge. At the end of every month I write up next months meals (ok, ok, I confess, I have waited until the month starts before planning). First things first, I see what we have planned for the month and assign the easiest meals for the hardest days. Thursdays are killers around here. Jonathan has work and then class and I have the girls all day till my Body Attack class. So, I usually make bean and cheese tacos, salad or spaghetti on these days. Our babysitter never complains, so I keep it really simple.
After all my easy meals are on the calendar, I start filling in.
With a red pen.
Red on my calendar always means food.
I did that as a way to make the meal stand out, catch the eye and hope that people would want to join us for dinner.
And just so you know, you can always join us for dinner.
Always.
Anyways…. back to my planning.
I will put down oldies but goodies.
I will put down surprises (Jonathan loves him some steak!).
I will put down something more adventurous (i.e. time consuming).
If I plan to use chicken one night (for a soup or stir fry), I will plan to thaw extra to use two night later. The same night I thaw it, I grill it on my Foreman (LOVE my Foreman) and use the grilled chicken for a salad or something two days later. A sample week might look like this:
– Turkey tenderloin with potatoes and veggies
– Tex Mex lasagna
– Turkey salad (using leftover turkey from Monday)
– Spaghetti (using leftover ground beef from Tuesday)
– Bean and cheese tacos (a staple for my family!!)
I have several “healthier” cookbooks that I take ideas from, but I love All Recipes and have gotten some amazing recipes from them.
I plan to eat leftovers or sandwiches on the weekends, as we tend to be on the go and need food that is quickly reheated and doesn’t take much time to cook.
As for getting good deals on food….
I plan ahead.
Way ahead.
Like buying 40 pounds of ground beef and chicken ahead.
When Fareway runs an amazing deal on meats, I buy it and freeze it. I might not have pork on the menu this month, but it will be on next month’s! Example: Monday Wal-Mart was marking down a lot of meat that was coming up on it’s use/freeze by date. So I bought a lot. I mean A LOT. I have no plans to use it this month (with the exception of a few things), but I will set out to use it over the next few months. I don’t worry so much about saving 50 cents on sour cream or that sort of stuff, so I’ve stopped really running around town looking for the best deals. I won’t move around meals because potatoes are on sale this week but I don’t have them on the schedule till next week. I figure if it’s going to save me lots of money (like $5 plus) then I will budge. But I’m way too lazy to buy something that is on sale when it’s inconvenient for me. On the other hand, it’s nice knowing what we’re having at the end of the month when pasta sauce goes on sale. I buy it and save it for three weeks.
So, that’s pretty much what I do. It’s not too hard and after a couple of months is really quite easy. I love it. I love having everything planned out and ready to go. Makes life that much simpler.
The month I stopped cooking
Posted on: November 1, 2009
- In: Life
- 12 Comments
November is a big month for our family.
Julia turns 2.
Two of my best friends from college are coming to visit.
We are spending Thanksgiving in Tennessee; it will be the first time in 10 years the whole family has been together.
And, of course, I’ve decided to give up cooking.
Well, not entirely.
I might, on occasion, brown some meat.
Or boil water.
But for the most part, I will not be cooking.
My crockpot will.
In the “eating healthy on a budget” world, I have stumbled across this site numerous times. I’ve read about it, heard about it and even talked about it, but never given it much thought. Until this past month.
I love to cook.
I love to bake.
I love pretty much anything revolving around the kitchen and food.
But it’s gotten harder and harder to incorporate Julia and Hannah into my dinnertime cooking. I want Julia to “help” as much as she’s able, but 4:30-5 seems to be Hannah’s fussiest time of the day (she’s phasing out her last nap). Which means, I find myself a tad stressed with a little helper, a cry-baby and the clock ticking. So, I resolved to make things easier.
Starting tomorrow (or for most of my readers, today), I am making crockpot meals every week day for the month of November*. This will allow me to have Julia help me with dinner in the mornings, free myself up to have more time in the late afternoon to focus on both girls, while still providing nutritious meals for the family.
It’s a win-win.
Here is our meal schedule for the month (most of these recipes are from Crockpot 365, but a few are ones I already had):
Pumpkin Soup
Pasta Fagioli
Maple Dijon Chicken
Harvest Stew
Turkey and wild rice soup
Peppercorn steak
Potato Soup
Sloppy Joes
Salsa chicken and black bean soup
End of summer harvest soup
Philly cheesesteak soup
Chicken makhani Indian butter
Autumn sausage casserole
Chicken and sweet potato stew
Pumpkin black bean soup
*I currently have planned to have leftovers for the weekends, but I’m sure I will end up cooking at some point over the next month. Unless I can convince Jonathan on those times….
A Wife Loved Like The Church 
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