Are you being frugal?

Frugal doings months ago:
> Brought a bucket of change to the bank's coin counting machine. Emptying our change into it regularly over the past 5 or so years netted us $321, after the machine kept its fee of 1%. May not sound like much change for that length of time. But we rarely have cash on us at all, so this is a NICE chunk of change, ha ha!
> Friends treated me to lunch for my birthday. The restaurant gave me a free dessert (huge shortbread, caramel, chocolate bar), too. Yummo!
> One of those friends gifted me a half pound of a favorite light roast coffee produced in our locale, as well as a bottle of Monin syrup (new to me as it was the one with stevia). She also gifted me a sweater in my favorite color and a summer t-shirt nightgown. Frankly, it felt like Christmas.
> Agreed to work my off weekend coming up soon. So I'll be putting in 7 days a week for about a month between my two jobs.
> Received two different cat food samples in the mail, Royal Canin and Purina One True Instinct. I'll mix them in with their preferred food. But my boys like their cheap, urinary tract health brand and will likely shun those pieces, like the little bits of grain-free Nulo that are currently residing in the bottom of their bowls.
> Trying to stay out of restaurants and stores more. This is quite easy, considering I've been working most days. Even though my days are not quite 8hrs long, I am pooped when I am done and just want to get home, shower and chill out.
> Replaced worn out coco liners in my wire hanging planters with moss that I gently lifted from along our tree line. I'm not sure I did it quite right. Seems that I should probably have double-lined it. But too late now as the seeds have been put in. I may reinforce it with a few loops of wire. I'll give it a few days to see if the soil stays in well enough.

Frugal doings lately:
> I had planted nasturtium seeds in the previously mentioned wire hanging planters. The moss has held fairly well and the seeds have made beautiful blooms.
> Finally remembered to bring home a bag of used coffee grounds from the convenience store I work at part time. It was full of the coffee pouch wrappers and filters but that was easily picked out. I spread it around my rock bed, garlic and blueberries in hopes to keep rodents away and to add acidity. I've had a pesky ground squirrel digging holes along the concrete slab at the back of our trailer and when I filled in those he began digging holes in my garlic bed (box/raised garden). Last night I emptied a dollar container of cayenne pepper all over it and am keeping my fingers crossed that that works. Refilling holes, covering with large stones/containers, and moth balls have not worked.
> Began to harvest lemon basil. I was given two plants from my main employer and though not a big basil fan, I intend to make compound butter with it and maybe freeze a bit for winter use, as I do like basil with tomato and mozzarella with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Yum.
> Have about 4 nicely growing sugar pumpkin plants. Hoping to get a bunch of them so I can puree lots. I really like it added to pasta sauce.
> Picked up an off weekend again, which will have me working nearly a month straight again. More work = more money!
> Have put roughly an extra $1000 (I think) on our mortgage so far this year. Would love to be mortgage free within a few years. I've recently started transferring my convenience store paycheck to the principal on our mortgage.
> Returned a 3pk of toothpaste (found I already have 4 huge tubes from Sam's Club) to Target and a $100 screen house to Shopko. After J got it set up, we decided it was too cheaply made and also didn't give shade as we had hoped.
> Been pretty good about not buying coffees and drinking what we have at home or work. I get to drink it free when on the clock at one job and make a darn good cold press at home.
> Brother brought over 6 big pallets that are in very good shape. (He can take them from work for free.) We replaced a porch and used these set upon pavers and topped with new decking boards.
> House and dogsat for a friend and her husband for two weeks while they took a small vacation. Enjoyed the quiet and time without screens. It was sort of a mini vaca for us, too. They treated us to supper out when they returned.
> Received three shampoo samples that was fun to bring along housesitting.
> Have been asked if I'd work the convenience store job Mon-Fri. I'd have to get up at 3am to work it, though. Argh. Not sure I want to quit my other job to do so. But I would make a dollar more per hour and be able to contribute to a 401K. I probably would also sign up for health insurance, as we've been without it for nearly three years, but aren't getting younger and healthier. It just makes me sick to pay half of my paycheck for the premiums and still have to meet a ridiculous deductible of (I believe) $4000.
> Cut J and D's hair - husband and son.
> Used a code for free shipping and $15 off $49 at Chewy.com, as well as receiving 30% a bag of litter. I ordered food, litter, treat, toy and flea/tick drops - all things we use anyway and it cost less than had I gone to the stores for these things... and it'll be brought to my door.
> Cashed in points at a survey site and have a $20 e-certificate for Walmart for it.
> Received a $10 virtual credit card (?) rebate on a face lotion I'd been wanting to try. I used that cc number to buy an Amazon gc that I applied to a planned purchase to make it easier to use for me.

Seen lately:

 Pulled these recently, roughly 40 heads, which is near twice as many as last year. Hope to double again for next year.








Don't know what the name of this particular lily is. But am glad that it came back after the stinkin' deer chowed down on the plant in early summer.







Bee balm didn't come up as well as I'd hoped for this year. Fortunately a few flowered and attracted some bees, though.








Barn swallows. Love those little bug eaters!

Keeping frugal, trying to stay somewhat low-carb.

Eats lately: Boneless pork chops with veggies sheet pan meal (a maple gravy was spooned over each chop on our plates-made with real maple syrup that I was gifted), tomato & mozzarella slices with a splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and steak smothered with mushrooms/onions/peppers, lettuce salad with sunflowers and cheese and mushroom smothered steak and salt & vinegar roasted fingerling potatoes.

A Frugal Doing:  These pictures are from this past fall. Dad had a good crop of leeks in the garden and we just weren't eating them quickly enough to eat fresh. So I dug the rest up, cleaned them really well, then sliced and dehydrated them. I didn't keep track of how long they were on the racks, though they were on overnight and then some. That small kitchen sink full of leeks gave me about 6 sandwich baggies full.

I'm hoping to get back on the low-carb bandwagon. I haven't fallen completely off, but pretty close. My weight's stayed pretty much the same. Though I am afraid that one of these times that I hop on the scale it is finally going to have caught up with me. A friend has finally started a "diabetic type of diet" (aka low-carb) and while we no longer work together and see each other as often, it is still nice to have a friend that understands the how and why of eating this way. Sadly, she is the one who gifted me a quart of real maple syrup that I have used on several occasions, ha ha... I have a new job in a convenience store where cheap eats are abundant and has added to my failing. I've recently started to bring my own lunch and am continuing to work on that. Meeting for coffee at friends' homes is another challenge for me as there's typically goodies on hand. I warned them at the last one that if I bring something in the future it will be made to suit my needs. Selfish aren't I? Anyway, here's to keeping a better diet and keeping a better record of it, too!

Straw Bale Gardening

I read about straw bale gardening some time ago... somewhere. I'm sure I first saw it online. Last summer our library hosted author Joel Karsten where he taught us about this great garden idea of his. Of course, while it was not required, we were encouraged to purchase a copy of his signed book. Which I unfrugal-ly did. It's been a great reference for me, far more clear than the one page of notes that I'd taken while he was speaking - ha ha. For your reference, the book is titled Straw Bale Gardens Complete.

While I didn't keep note of the date that I started my seeds, I believe it was in the first week or two of April. I planted some cabbage and lavender seeds. Sadly, the lavender appears to be duds. However, nearly all the cabbage seeds came up! (You're also seeing oat seeds = cat grass that I more recently sprouted for my furry boys.) It's not much, I know. I'll give the lavender a few more days then I will reuse that soil to start something else.

This is a pic of my small straw bale garden project. Depending on whether or not I experience much success with it, I may enlarge it next spring. Of course, if we can't find a reasonable price on the straw, I won't be doing it in that case. Prices in our area for the small square bales run anywhere from $6-$12 each. We ended up paying about $2 or $3 per bale after finding a farmer nearly two hours away. While we spent money on gas, we felt better putting some cash in that gentleman's pocket than we would have at our local greenhouse or feed store. Principles, people, principles!

There are 5 bales in the garden photo above. I have another 6 off to the right in this pic that you can't see, as well as several that are in use in the traditional dirt garden that my dad keeps in another part of the yard. I took this photo on day 4 of the 14 day cycle where you prep the bales. My intention is to get those cabbage seedlings transplanted after the bales have been completely prepped. I also have plenty of space for other veggies, which I have seeds for spinach, lettuce, carrots, beets... I'll post again as we further complete this project.

Are you staying frugal?

What I've been eating lately:

Grilled pork chop/zucchini & squash zoodles/Chinese 5-spice carrots. Paleo Sesame Chicken on zoodles w/tomato & mozzarella.  Thai Cucumber Salad. Chopped Salad.
(Can you tell I've discovered my Spirelli again?)

What I've Seen Lately:

The purple flowers are striped hollyhocks - they're beautiful. Dad planted them between the corn and zinnias. They're single stalks about 4-5ft tall. Second pic is of garlic in its second year that I'd planted from seed from an online friend. It was supposed to be ready for harvest this fall. I dug out three that look like this and left about 8 more in the ground. They look like somewhat small shallots though they smell like garlic. I'm giving them a third year in hopes of getting some large bulbs of cloves. If anyone raises garlic and is familiar with either the variety of garlic this would be or would know what may have happened so that I only got a single bulb, I'd love to hear from you. Flowers in photo below are a few I snipped from what came up out of a packet of mixed perennial flower seeds.

Frugal doings lately:
> started a second part-time job
> adding half the amount of coffee grounds to the previous used grounds to get a second pot for half the cost (our coffee maker only makes 2 & 1/2 mugs of coffee)
> signed up with the area extension office for a cooking and walking program - free exercise and free food
> made a list of another bag of items to drop at Goodwill and filed it away for tax time
> getting my recipe and ingredients together to pickle garden beets
> sold two of A's college texts

> brought home some more sandwich wrappers from work that would've been thrown out (they'll be used to wrap/make party crackers again for a game at Christmas)
> making more of an effort to include garden produce as the core of meals
> found white cotton ankle socks on clearance at Mendards for A and me, 10pk for $2, and they're nice quality
> picked basil, put it on a paper towel lined plate to dry and some is hung to dry
> picked a small amount of sugar snap peas & green beans, blanched, then froze into 3 bags for future stir-fry meals
> made up several individual meals and froze them for when A moved into her college apartment for fall semester (3 salmon patties, 2 chicken primavera, 1 teriyaki shrimp stir-fry)
> bought 6 green peppers on sale 2 for $1, chopped and froze in 3 meal size servings
> cashed in for a $5 Amazon card at Swagbucks
> it rained and refilled my nearly empty rain barrels
> received a Redbox code for a movie, watched Divergent for free
> came across another Redbox offer for a free game rental that J & D enjoyed for free entertainment
> used coupons to get 3 bottles of hairspray for about $4.25 out of pocket but also got a $5 Target gc for the purchase of 3 Tresemme products (I just ran out of hairspray, so this was perfect and will last me for at least the next year hopefully!)
> used Target Cartwheel printout and coupons to get 4 boxes of low-carb snackbars for just a bit over $1 each, normally $4.69 per box
> more a frugal for boychild, D, he spent $4 on an arcade game and won a PS4 (though it was technically my $4 and my $$ that paid for he and two friends' laser tag rounds...still a much better deal had we been really intending to buy a new system...)
> cut watermelon, saved the juice, made popsicles, which we only ate half of and tossed the rest as we didn't like them and they have too much sugar anyway (guess that's more of a frugal fail)
> made low-carb muffins with some blueberries that were nearly ready to be tossed into compost
> ordered an analog stick off of Amazon to replace a broken one on a videogame controller as opposed to buying a whole new controller - received two of them for under $3 shipped
> cut buttons from a shirt that was headed for the rag bag

Are you staying frugal?

What I've been eating lately:

Lemon-Dill Chicken, Citrus & Beet Salad. Grilled Marinated Pork Chop, Roasted Sweet Potato, Lettuce Salad, Caprese Salad. Vanilla Mint Protein Shake.

Yeah, the oranges/beets/tomato/sweet potatoes are not really low-carb. But they are seasonal indulgences and eaten in small amounts (usually, ha ha). The coffee syrup behind the shake is actually J's, not mine.




What I've Seen Lately Snapshot:

Zinnias in the garden - what a brilliant pop of color. I love clipping them and having them on the kitchen table. Bugs seem to get pretty amorous in the raspberries - somewhere on this blog I believe I still have a pic of grasshoppers being... "romantic". Raspberries, lettuce and sugarsnap peas are the goodies going on in the garden. Last - holy cow. That's a giant mosquito.

Frugal Front Lately:

> adding up amounts to get a monthly average of what we're spending on food so that I can figure out a budget
> removed a stain from a silk tie for D for his work uniform (method below - if you're willing to take the risk)
> saved over $13 with coupons at Walmart on a $70 grocery trip
> found I was overcharged $4.64 on a separate trip to Walmart, will bring to customer service next time going there
> continuing to hang the heavy laundry items such as bottoms and shirts, towels, blankets
> framed some prints I have had for over 10 years from when I'd homeschooled A with wooden frames that cost $2 each
> borrowed the book Outlander from the library, as well as season 1 of True Detective on dvd
> sold A's dvd set of the whole series of Charmed, while not frugal for me, A will come out over $50 ahead
> putting leftovers in the freezer or to use by creating a new meal, such as a chicken hotdish made from leftover grilled chicken and leftover diced onion from a taco meal
> applied for and will be starting a second part-time job that I know I will really like at a coffeehouse

The first pic you can see what I believe is grease staining D's work tie. I looked up how to clean a silk tie and it sounded like it was not going to be too likely that I'd even be able to do so. But there were a few ideas. One was to use babypowder or cornstarch on it, let it set for a few hours, then shake or gently brush off. I tried that. It didn't work. Then I read a suggestion to use rubbing alcohol and q-tips to try to gently scrub it away and a blow dryer to quickly dry it so as to avoid a "water outline". No matter how careful I was, it kept leaving a line around the edges of where I'd cleaned, though it did seem to make the grease stain disappear. Finally, I thought, well enough fartin' around already! I dunked a cotton ball in the alcohol and just swiped it across the tie a couple of times (second picture), blow dried it, repeated about two more times... and it is now unnoticeable (pic 3)! Yeah, baby!

Reduced Sugar Honeyberry Jam Recipe

What I've Been Eating Snapshot:

Lots of eggs, of course. This was diced Spam and dehydrated spinach, two eggs, soft mozzarella and a splash of hot sauce. Yummo. Over three years later and I still love eggs in the morning, thank goodness.
The second pic is of a slice of herb-y pork roast on romaine with a little onion, bbq and pickles. I was a cheater pants and used regular bbq. I did eat another slice of plain meat and had thrown out my coleslaw as it had gotten too spicy from sitting in the fridge for two days.












What I've Seen This Week:
Below is a photo of my lemon drop evening primrose that bloomed this past week, started maybe a week and a half ago. Peonies also bloomed nearly two weeks ago and no longer appear as beautiful as the second pic below. Mostly they are just small heaps of delicate petals upon the ground surrounding the bushes.

The photo below and left is of the honeyberry (or haskap berries) bushes that Dad planted at least several years ago - there are for sure two varieties, possibly a third, planted in there. The photo to the right is a zoomed in pic so you can see the berries. They are pretty tart, though once in a while I'm surprised with a sweeter one. I'd say they are very comparable to blueberries, when considering the size and texture. I made a batch of mixed berry low-sugar jam using them. It actually came out sweeter tasting than I'd like, so I will give it another go and reduce the sweetener/sugar even more. My recipe includes sugar as it was a compromise so that other family members can enjoy it as well. I intend for the next batch to be sugarless.

Mixed Berry Jam
(reduced sugar, my own recipe, made 2 & 1/2pints)
1c honeyberries
1.5c chopped strawberries
1.5c wild blueberries (I used frozen)
1/2c blueberries (mine were frozen)
1/2c sugar
1/2c xylitol
1/3c water
4tsp lemon juice
2 & 1/2T powdered pectin

While you can make according to the directions on your pectin packaging, I merely placed all but the lemon juice and pectin into a heavy bottomed saucepan and heated so the sweeteners would dissolve. As it heated I buzzed a stick blender through it to help break down the fruits. Then I let it come to a gentle boil and added the lemon juice, stirred, added the pectin slowly, and stirred. I let it boil for about a minute, maybe two. 

I then removed the pan from the heat and ladled into my prepared canning jars and processed in a hot water bath for approximately 15mns. Your canner instructions should tell you how long to process. Mine actually stated 10mns. My canner is huge, though, and just wouldn't come to a nice boil. Hence the longer processing time and the fact that I am storing mine in the fridge - just to be on the safe side. Please do follow your canner and canning book directions to ensure a proper seal if you intend to store without refrigeration.

Frugal Front This Past & Current Week Snapshot:
>trying to do some deeper cleaning as this occupies time slots that may have me "window shopping", which inevitably leads to real shopping
>digging down deep into the freezers to find things to make meals with to cut back on grocery shopping and less wasting
>purchased a prepaid gas card for the work Jeep so that we can pay at the pump and avoid going into the gas station where we may be tempted to buy junk food and drinks
>continuing to work on homemade Christmas gifts, finishing two (photo below)
>had a paperbackswap credit to use (still have one more, I think) and received that book yesterday
>browsed our library's book sale for free entertainment, as well as checked out a Johnny Carson dvd
>picked up a printout of our auto and home insurance declaration pages so I can do a little comparison shopping
>called our dentist to see if we can get a discount if we pay cash and in full on a nearly $500 dental bill for the kids, they will take off 10%
>entered codes on Driscoll's berries site to receive printable coupons which allowed me to pick up a couple more containers of strawberries for just over a dollar a pound
>had picked up and spread grounds for gardeners from Starbucks
>corralled D and A's various face washes that have been hanging around in the bathroom and started to use them myself as they apparently get bored with using the same product over and over - ha ha
>worked on getting health insurance straightened out more and found a dentist that will take D and A as the previous dentist no longer accepts the insurance we have, hence the $500 we owe because they were wishy-washy about whether or not they took our insurance - grrr...
>found some Sevin insect dust that I'd purchased a couple years ago and used on the cabbages as I've noticed something's been nibbling on them

Yummy Shrimp & A New Baby

What I'm Eating: Today's Snapshot:
B> 1slice toasted Ezekiel w/egg salad, 2 coffee with h&h and sweetener
L> 2slices toasted Ezekiel w/egg salad, water
S> 1/2med roasted sweet potato, grilled shrimp skewers, sf iced coffee
Snacks> 1sf choc & caramel bar, 1 strawberry, 2 chunks cherry almond dark chocolate bar, handful pecans

Let me make my excuses right away. I have been PMS'ing for a few days now. I don't know about y'all, but my brain tells me, "FEED ME", and more specifically, "FEED ME CHOCOLATE". Also, we are in need of a little shopping to pick up some veggies and such, hence the overdose of egg salad. The sweet potato on my plate was merely scrubbed, diced and seasoned liberally with olive oil, s&p, dried rosemary and fresh minced parsley. Popped the pan into the toaster oven and in about 45mns time of about 350 degrees... perfection. The shrimp was made by mostly following Melissa Joulwan's recipe from her Well Fed cookbook. Oh my, oh my... divine. Her recipe calls for cilantro. I'm not a fan of that so I used parsley instead. I used precooked/frozen shrimp instead of fresh. (Can you tell I don't follow directions very well?) I also thought half a lime provided plenty of juice, rather than the whole one as called for. Purely divine. I was in such a food-blissed-out state after eating this meal! Just between you and I? J and I polished off the entire pound of shrimp.

What I've Seen This Week:

Yay! Gerbera Daisy still making blooms!

Chocolate Ganache Pie

Chocolate Ganache Pie
(adapted from Driscoll's berries site)
1 & 1/2c pecans
1/2c walnuts
1/3c Splenda Brown Sugar Blend*
1tsp cinnamon
4T butter, cut into several chunks
6oz favorite 70% dark chocolate bar
1c heavy whipping cream
whipped cream
strawberries

For the crust: Heat oven to 350. Pulse pecans through butter in a food processor until resembling graham cracker crumbs. Press into lightly sprayed 8" pie pan, covering the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Bake 15mns. Take out to cool while preparing ganache filling.

For filling: Break chocolate bar into small chunks. Add to saucepan. Pour heavy whipping cream over and turn heat to medium-low. Whisk and heat until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth and just starts to bubble along edges of the pan. Remove from heat and pour into prepared pie crust. Place in refrigerator to cool and firm up for at least three hours (should firm up like a stiff cheesecake). Serve with whipped cream and a fresh berry on top.

*I have had this recipe bookmarked for quite some time with the idea to make it more carb friendly. While I didn't make it as low-carb as I could, it met my needs, as well as supplies. If you'd like to make it lower in carbs you can easily swap out the Splenda Brown Sugar Blend for your choice of sweetener, such as Xylitol. You could use an  85-90% dark chocolate bar. (But I will warn you that the original recipe calls for 60-72% and my version, with 70%, tastes very dark chocolatey.) Switch out the nut crust for your favorite recipe, though this version is great, especially with the increased cinnamon. Use whipped coconut cream and blackberries for your toppings, if you prefer. The flexibility in this recipe has earned it a place on my blog so I can refer back to it and make again and again. So decadent! 


I'm recommitting to doing a more stringent job of eating low-carb. While it is true that I have not gained weight by adding more fruits and treats, I haven't lost either. I still would like to lose 20-30lbs more. Fortunately a coworker informed me that she began eating lower-carb this past week. It's helpful to have others around you that support your way of eating. So I'm delighted that we can share this. She's pooed-pooed me in the past for eating this way. But her sister recently lost 20lbs doing it and that motivated her. Whatever it takes - yay! I am so proud of her for losing 3lbs in only her first four days!

Gardening Notes

6/7 - Our growing season is short here. So my first box was planted in May, shortly after the ground had thawed enough to move the first box from the garden and into the back yard. I have garlic, lettuces, spinach, a couple acorn squash and mixed perennial flowers planted. At the end of May we put together a second box. Just last night I put in 7 cabbage plants and 4 marigolds in there.
6/9 - I put in some gladiola bulbs that I'd dug up and saved from last year. You can see them sticking out in the back row of the second box. I gave my trumpet vine (growing on both sides of the metal arbor) a good look and it is greening nicely, though I think there is a lot that I can trim from near top that didn't transition well. That may spur it to grow more strongly. Because I am unsure of this I have been removing just tiny vines/stems at a time.

Are you staying frugal?

Frugal plans, ideas and thoughts:

1.) Plant more cabbages than I did last year, which I think was four. They could've stood hanging out in the garden a little longer without any damage done to them and could've then been stored in the garage or porch entryway. Also could grate more and freeze it as freezer coleslaw, though would like to grate it by hand rather than use the processor since it grated too fine.
2.) Must plant some sort of squash. So far, butternut and spaghetti have grown well. As well as zucchini, of course. Again, these remain hardy long after being harvested and stored in a cool place, though I don't believe the zucchini would store as long. They also can be cubed and frozen.
3.) Grow green beans. While we are not big fans of green beans, I have found a recipe that I was able to successfully convert to somewhat low-carb that most of us agreed makes green beans... good?!? The recipe I loosely followed was here. Frozen garden beans turned out great, Splenda substituted fantastically, and there was no need to pre-stir anything together. Toss the following in crock for about 2hrs : about a pound of frozen green beans, 1/2lb chopped and fried bacon, 1T butter, 1/3c Splenda brown sugar, 3tsp soy sauce, 1 scant tsp garlic powder. So a half row of green beans will get eaten after all!

 4.) Try to include and convert recipes to use more coconut flour as opposed to almond flour. It is so much cheaper. I also would like to increase my fiber intake and coconut flour's very high fiber - think I read nearly 60%.
5.) Try to convert more recipes to use Stevia In The Raw as opposed to Xylitol. While I like Xylitol, it is hugely expensive. I also need to order it online as it's not locally available. Stevia In The Raw's cheaper and sold at our small-town grocer.
6.) Avoid stopping at the local grocer. We spend too much there. If I need an item or two for a recipe, I will make something else rather than spend the gas/time/money to run into town. It's not even worth stopping on my way home from work as it usually leads to spending more on other items that I hadn't intended to purchase at that time.
7.) Preserved foods are meant to be eaten! Stop saving them for "some day" and start using them. I have actually started to do this. But I need to make a more conscious effort to do so regularly. Some of these preserved foods I will need to look up more recipe options for, such as the dehydrated spinach and canned garden carrots. But point being, why buy a bag of frozen diced carrots when I have home-canned ones already?!?
8.) Preserve more of the apples from our two trees. We did a couple gallon bags of dried apple rings and plenty of canned and frozen sauce. But I would like for none of it to go to waste out there! Canning may be the better option for next year so that there'll be more freezer space.
9.) Clean the closet across from the bathroom. This is where canned goods are stored... all over the shelf, amidst bedding, cereal, wrapping supplies... You get the picture. If I neaten it up I will be able to see what all I have in there for canned homegrown foods.
10.) Keep a large bag in the freezer for meat scraps. I do keep the carcass from turkeys and chickens that were roasted whole (most of the time), but need to do it at ALL times and with other meats. Steak fat and bones, pork fat and bones...Ham bone, don't give it away. Simmer that puppy down to a delicious, gelatinous broth.
11.) Keep a large bag for clean vegetable trimmings. I compost. So that is where it all usually goes. But I would like to make vegetable broth that can be used right away for soups or stored in the freezer.
12.) Learn to use the free texting app that I downloaded to my Kindle Fire (text+). I've tried for a couple of days to figure it out. But still don't know how to use it well. My original intent when I downloaded it was so that I could use it in conjunction with Redbox since I have heard that people with cells can text and get free rental codes now and then.
13.) Dried beans - use 'em. Yes, I know they are not low-carb. But I do use beans now and then. I make soup and taco salads and other people in my family do eat them. Admittedly, I eat a few each time I make something that includes them. But I do mean a "few". I am experimenting right now as I type this. I have a pot of pinto beans on their second boil on the stovetop. When they are done I will drain and rinse, then bag and freeze.
14.) Use the crockpot, electric fry skillet and toaster oven more often in the winter. Right now, propane has doubled since we filled just a few short weeks ago. There's supposed to be a propane shortage due to our extreme cold temps this January to explain that outrageous cost. Extreme cold that has cancelled school a handful of times and runs -35 to -50 with wind chill. Our last fill was $760! Keeping my fingers crossed it makes it through spring. (We heat our home, cook with a gas range, run a hot water heater... all with propane.) We did recently purchase an electric infra-red small room heater that we run in the living room when everyone's home. Small appliances, small appliances, small appliances!
15.) Keep thermostat between 60 and 65 as needed. Which means, turning it up nearing mealtimes and bathing times and keeping it lower all other times. My old slippers finally fell apart and I've been anxiously awaiting the clearance pair that I bought online from Kohl's using a 30% off and free shipping code. It's already been about two weeks, so I expect them any time. But, boy, are my feet freezing right now!
16.) Exercise. I've been struggling with doing regular exercise. I've been using my Leslie Sansone walking dvd's again and have been slowly trying to build back up to at least a 3 mile walk each morning before work. But have only been rotating the 1 & 2 mile walks. I need to step it up. Something's been missing with this lower-carb way of eating. Oh, yeah. Weightloss! I haven't lost anymore since nearly three years ago. I am hoping to build up strength and stamina, as well as using it to play a mind-trick on myself - I tend to eat better when I include regular physical activity.
17.) Walking to reduce gas (in the car, silly) and sneak in more exercise. This thought is actually something I intend to do this spring. I would like to park at our grocery store's lot and walk from there to work, then back again at the end of the day. I know about how long it takes to go one way and guess it to be around a mile or so. That'd be an easy couple of miles per work day. (We do not live in town, so walking to work's not feasible.)

That's all I can think of for now. But, as always, I am constantly thinking of how else to cut costs without feeling too deprived of anything. You know. Like HEAT. What types of things are you doing to either "buck down" or to self-improve?

Are you being frugal? (Also, a reduced sugar grape jelly recipe!)

What kind of squash is this? Is it a delicata?

I stopped in at a grocery store that I don't typically shop. They had a huge bin of all sorts of squash and gourds all jumbled together and they labeled them only as, "assorted". Not very helpful. I assumed they were edible. They were very good.

On the frugal front:
1.) I put my dried heirloom pea seeds in an envelope, labeled them, and placed that envelope in a sealed baggie, then into the freezer for a couple of weeks. I'm not sure if this is the right way to save them. But it's my current plan. I also cut a couple pieces of pantyhose and fit them over two drying flower stalks on one of my heirloom lettuces out in the garden. I then cut a couple of stalks that had fallen over and put them in a window to continue to dry. When the buds dry up I will shake them into a bag and see if I get any seeds. Again, I don't know if this is the right way or not. But it's the plan that I have right now. I have a second type of heirloom lettuce out in the garden. But it never sent up any flowers or stalks. So I'm not sure what to do with that one. Guess I'll just count it as a loss and maybe plant a little earlier next year and hope that that longer season will provide seeds to save. Suggestions are welcome, of course.
2.) I received a Keurig sample in the mail. It has 4 cups in it. It's going in my Christmas stockpile of little goodies. It will likely be given to my s-i-l (no, I don't think she reads this...) as part of their family gift. I'm planning on doing one big stocking of random goodies for her, my brother, and their two young teens. We'd agreed to not doing any gifts this year. But I can't help myself sometimes. Also received two sweet coffee drink mix samples that will go in a stocking for someone else.
3.) Low-sugar Grape Jelly! Finally made some! This was made with a quart of grape juice that I thawed from our freezer from Dad's grapes last year. I did have to add some sugar, as our grapes are extremely sour and the xylitol & stevia hadn't quite done the job. This was frugal as I had everything already.
4.) Canned applesauce. Unsweetened, of course. Love having this during the winter months. Normally I freeze applesauce. But there's no freezer space right now. Also dried some apple slices and rings. Plan to do some more of those.
5.) Picked the last of the broccoli from the garden. Used it to make beef & broccoli.
6.) "A" ran out of dining dollars at her college. Rather than spend a ton of money at the store to feed her for the week, I went through our freezer and divided some veggies into single servings so she can make a couple stir-fry meals, baggied a couple chicken breast strips so she can add to those, found a block of cheese, gave her a bag of garden green beans and a bag of sliced almonds to dress them up with, baggied up a couple servings of spaghetti meat sauce and found a box of pasta in the pantry. We still need to stop by the store and pick up some toilet paper and a small package of steak/beef for another stir-fry option. Oh, and I found a small package of frozen hamburger and a packet of meatloaf seasoning, for which I had recently just bought some disposable mini-loaf pans. She'll also take some dried apple slices for snacking and a couple small potatoes from the garden.
7.) I've been unplugging a couple of power strips each night that our laptops, television and game system are plugged into. There was more than a $40 difference from our last bill. But the air conditioning that Ma & Pa use now and then hasn't been used either. So I can't really tell. Anyone do this and notice any savings?

Low-Sugar Grape Jelly
(adapted from Ball pectin package) 
(makes 2 pints)
3 & 1/3c unsweetened grape juice
6tsp lemon juice
2 - 0.4oz packets Ball Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin
1tsp butter
1/2c xylitol
1/2c Stevia In The Raw
30 drops liquid vanilla stevia
1/4c sugar


Heat juices over high heat. Whisk or stir in pectin gradually. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Add butter, stir until melted. Mix xylitol, powdered stevia and sugar in a bowl, then add to juice mixture. Bring to boil again, stirring constantly, and boil for 1mn. Ladle into two clean pint jars and place lids on. Let sit to cool for about half an hour. Then store in refrigerator.

Arbor

Well, shoot. This wasn't the arbor that I had in mind. But now that it's up and I have moved my trumpet vines, I like it better than I thought I would. What I had thought I was going to get was an arbor made of vinyl. The idea was that it wouldn't rust like metal or rot like wood. Then I got to thinking about the metal trellis that the vine had been previously on and how it hasn't got any rust on it after at least 5 years. (Isn't that what Rustoleum is for anyway? Ha ha...) Besides, I think it looks nice with the cast iron pot laying on the ground next to it with the hosta. Plus I can re-use the trellis for something else down the line and it will play nicely as well! Keep your fingers crossed that the vines will survive this transplant, please!

While I was replanting my vines, Dad was back near those two birch trees to the right in the photo, digging up beets. He called me back to take a look at a Pileated Woodpecker's hole, pictured below. The photo after shows the chunks that the little booger had pecked out of it. Dad thinks it will be interesting to see if the woodpecker comes back to dig it out more and I thought I'd document it here to see if there's any progress next year.

I have a low-carb chocolate cake recipe that I'm experimenting with. I made it last night. But, while it tasted GREAT, it wasn't too pretty and was more like a pudding cake. So I will experiment again to try to fix what I think went wrong with it. Obviously it was too wet. Sadly, I must now eat this failed cake...

Jewel Roasted Vegetables

Late this morning I pulled two pork roasts out of the freezer. They both fit in my Dutch oven (have I told you how much I adore mine?) perfectly, side by side. I poured a bit of leftover coffee from this morning into the bottom (why not?), added a bunch of garlic cloves and a little s&p, popped them into the heated oven and let the magic happen. Of course, meat is all well and good. For a low-carber, it's really all I need, right? 

However, I am also a new gardener. I've got lots of carrots, beets, a little broccoli and some onions still going on out there. While I was just going to harvest some today and make pickled beets and clean carrots to keep in the fridge for snacking, a picture flashed in my head of a recipe from a cookbook I'd borrowed from the library at one time. It was a cookbook by Ellie Krieger and her beautiful photo of roasted veggies still could be recalled. The link to her recipe on Food Network's site can be brought up by clicking on her name below the recipe title. You'll see that my version is quite different from hers. It was mostly a matter of what I had on hand. I had made her recipe as she originally intended when I'd had her cookbook. It was fantastic... and I am not a brussels sprouts fan. Point being, it's flexible. Because this was fantastic, too. Use what you've got. Use what you want. It's all good.

Jewel Roasted Vegetables

(adapted from Ellie Krieger of Food Network)
6 large beets, boiled until tender and peeled
2 T bacon grease
6 medium carrots, cut into 1" pieces
1-1/2c broccoli florets
8 large garlic cloves

4 small onions, cut into wedges
1/2 teaspoon pink salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1tsp thyme

1 branch/sprig rosemary

Trim then boil beets for 1hr or until tender enough to pierce with fork or knife. Drain and immerse in cold water. When cool enough to handle, slip off skins. Cut into 1" chunks and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Peel and cut the carrots into 1-inch pieces, trim the broccoli and peel the garlic cloves and onion. Put the carrots, garlic cloves and onion wedges onto a large baking sheet (not the broccoli yet) and toss with 2T of melted bacon grease. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper. 

Place the pan of carrots/garlic/onion into the oven and cook everything for1hr, stirring once or twice. 

Stir the thyme and rosemary into the carrot mixture, add the broccoli and beets to the baking sheet. Let continue to cook for another 15 minutes or until broccoli is tender and it is heated throughout. Remove from oven, taste and add additional seasoning if desired.

Now, for an admission of guilt. I ate way too much at supper. It just simply tasted too good. (Oh, did I mention the mashed potatoes?) Although I felt uncomfortable as all heck for hours after eating... I still splurged on a Salted Caramel Pumpkin Spice concrete mixer at Culvers later. Why, oh why can't I remember how an overdose of sugar makes me feel?!? Yuck. I'm blaming this evening's loss of control on DMS (during). But I feel so horrible that it should keep me on the straight and narrow... for awhile anyway.

Trumpet Vine

I planted two trumpet vine seedlings early this afternoon. One is yellow, the other an orange one. While the first photo shows one in a pot, that is actually one that Dad planted. My two I put out in the empty spots in my square-foot garden temporarily. I may possibly leave them there to over-winter. The next photo is of the reddish-orange trumpet vine that I planted at the end of our trailer a handful of years ago, maybe 5 or 6 years. The third photo is a sucker, or runner, or whatever you want to call it, that came about as a result of burying a vine while attached to the mother plant. I'm posting these photos just because of the differences in the leaves amongst a mature plant and the seedlings. They don't look like they are the same plant! Anyone grow these and familiar with what the seedlings look like? I'll be off to investigate and see what can be seen online about this. In any event, the hummingbirds LOVE these vines. If you want to attract them, the trumpet vine would be a great way to do so.

While out in the garden I picked a small bowl of strawberries. While it is true the season is over for them, there are actually still some white and green ones on the plants yet. I'm hoping Dad doesn't get impatient and mow it all down before they get a chance to turn red. I also picked some young kale leaves to use in a quiche in another night or two. (The larger leaves haven't looked pretty at all this summer. I'm blaming it on all the grasshoppers we've got this year.) I was inspired by Gourmet Girl's most recent quiche recipe. Mine will be made with Jimmy Dean original sausage and a typical store branded cheese. I'll post a pic... if I remember to take one before we eat it.

"N" (sister-in-law) and I went for a long walk down our road. I'd guess that it would be about 3-4 miles round trip. It wasn't high powered since I was in sandals alternating with bare feet. Tomorrow after work I am supposed to meet up with a friend and walk the paved trail in town. She's backed out on me before - so keep your fingers crossed for me. While I know that I still can go for a walk by myself, it's so easy to not do it when a partner backs out.