I was cleaning out my garage today and found something that made my day..
…a box of recipes. These aren’t ordinary recipes though. They are when you are at a social and taste something so fantastic that you track down the person who made it and make her write the recipe on your napkin kind of recipes.
I feel like cooking again.
It rained last night and brought the temperature down to 78 degrees this morning. I’m off to get my painting clothes on and finish the chairs before it heats up.
Saving money on groceries gets easier and easier the longer you do it. The Grocery Shrink method is a lifestyle of shopping, planning and cooking that can lower your grocery budget like no other method can. I’d like to point new readers to The February 2011 Archives. I dedicated that entire month to describing the basics on how to shrink your grocery bills. If you like what you read there, you’ll love the ebooks.
Also, January 2011 was dedicated to fitness and adjusting your menus for healthy weight loss. I’m still referring back to what I wrote there as I work at shedding the extra baby weight.
I have some big projects going on at home, some secret, and some just menial work. So if you don’t hear from me every day for awhile, you can still get some great reading that will help you along the road to your financial goals.
I have a short video for you today showing a quick tip in action. While you are cooking parts of a meal, you can cook extra and freeze portions for a fast start on another meal. Yesterday I cooked 3 lbs of pasta. It took the same amount of time as cooking 1 lb and I was able to freeze the already cooked pasta to make 2 more meals that much faster. This would also work for brown rice, quinoa, beans, hamburger, sausage etc.
When making your own mixes, start with a scratch recipe that you love, and make several mixes the same time you are making this dish for your family. Place each dry ingredient from the recipe in single batch containers as you are adding that ingredient to the one you are cooking right then. This saves time because you already have your ingredients out and the proper measuring spoon in your hand. (I had a bad headache when we were filming this–and had trouble with my train of thought. Hopefully you’ll still get something you can use from it.)
Recipes that work great this way are: bread recipes like pizza crust, pancakes, muffins, biscuits, cornbread, etc. Or sauce recipes such as spaghetti sauce or Alfredo. You can also premix marinades (even the liquids for these) and herb rubs, or seasoning blends–such as for fajitas or tacos.
You can substitute ingredients to make the recipe more mix friendly. For example, substitute powdered milk for fresh milk and then only add water when using the mix. You can also substitute sugar (even turbinado) for honey and cut in solid fat such as butter or coconut oil to replace oil.
Mixes with perishable ingredients such as whole grain flour, yeast, or parmesean cheese should be stored in the refrigerator. Be sure to label your mix well with the title and preparation instructions. You can save the labeled mix containers to refill when they are all empty.
It’s sandal weather and if your feet are like mine, they need a little attention. There’s nothing delicate or feminine about heels so cracked they’d look at home in an elephant herd. It’s not healthy either. Dry cracking feet are gateways for infection. When I snggle up to DH at night, I want him to smile not yell ouch! if I touch his leg with my foot. Dead skin and callouses soak up all your product and prevent lotions from nourishing the young healthy skin underneath.
For minor foot dryness, slather on a thick ointment like Mary Kay’s Extra Emollient Night Cream or Cocoa Butter and slip on cotton socks. The heat from your body will soften the cream and help it move deeper into the skin. If you tend to have poor circulation with cold feet, get moving as soon as your socks are on. Exercise will move blood down to your feet and help heal.
1. If you have serious foot problems, it will take a little time to get them up to par. Place a dishtub over a bathtowel and fill with warm water (as hot as your feet can take.) Add 1/4 cup epsom (Dollar Tree has this) or coarse sea salt and a squirt of shampoo or your favorite body wash. Soak your feet for 15-20 minutes while you read your favorite book or magazine (or catch up on earlier Grocery Shrink posts!)
2. After soaking, use a pumice stone, lufa sponge, or sugar scrub to begin to remove the layers of dead skin. If it’s very bad, it’s best to do this over a period of several days. (A great commercial product for this is the Mary Kay Satin Hands Set.)
3. Follow up with an intense moisturizing cream and cotton socks while it soaks in.
4. Repeat these steps every other day until your feet are soft and smooth, while using a nightly intense moisturizer and cotton socks.
If your DH doesn’t like you to wear socks to bed, start the treatment early enough that you can remove the socks before slipping into bed. Otherwise, it’s okay to wear them all night.
I only have a few minutes to write this morning, and there’s a lot more that could be said on the subject. The best way to teach manners is to pretend like I described in the earlier post on practicing life. But there are some other ways to slip manners instruction into the nooks and crannies. One fun way is to grab a manners book and read one rule or anecdote at the supper table. Two that kids enjoy listening to are:
You can click on the images for more information on the books. When I remember to read a chapter, the kids often beg for one more. It’s fun to hear about manners when you aren’t being corrected at the time.
Another fun way to review basic manners is in the game, Mind Your Manners.
Christian Book.com has the best price on this one, but if you have a swagbucks giftcard to Amazon, click on the photo to use it on this game.
A fun way to learn to set the table is to make a game mat by tracing around a place, fork, knife, spoon, napkin and glass in the appropriate places on a large sheet of paper. Then draw the same objects on a spinner. Each person takes a turn with the spinner adding the items to their mat as they land on it. If they land on something they already have, they lose that turn. The winner is the player who completes their place first.
I’ve also seen families use the game mats for placemats at every meal, laminating them for durability. Then when a young child helps set the table, they have a blueprint for placing things correctly.
Counting Bunnies Too made super cute quilted placemats for this purpose and has instructions on her blog. If you make one, flip the knife over so the blade is facing the plate.
If sewing isn’t your thing Nick, Jr. has printable placemats to use for this purpose.
It’s been awhile since I had a recipe on this blog. I’ve been doing some experimental cooking since Grant was born. I bought a flour mill and electric tortilla press in the few weeks after he was born and I’ve been grinding fresh flour and making our own tortillas. Two days ago we made spinach tortillas from this book:
I loved them! The kids were put off by the green color, but they said they couldn’t taste the spinach. We filled them with grilled chicken ceasar salad.
Last night we made Kale chips. They were tasty, but I wish I hadn’t burned some of them. Today I’d like to try using my mandoline for the first time to make beet and sweet potato chips. I’ll let you know how that goes. Here’s a video to show you how to make the kale chips.
I just pulled into town today after taking my children to reunion. Reunion is a week long family camp where we spend many hours in worship, classes, and recreation with our church family. I didn’t want to tell the whole world that I would be gone and didn’t get my posts written ahead of leaving–sorry about the gap! We had such a lovely time and can’t wait to go back again next year.
Regular posts will resume Monday.
I read this story before I was married and afterwards I decided to always have family prayer in the evening, even if we didn’t have time for a formal devotion. It is taken from the third book of True Restoration Testimonies, compiled by Clara Thomas, pg 82.
“In Oklahoma one of our pastors was stricken with a severe illness. He had a long period of recovery, allowing him time to pray diligently for his congregation. One night he was given dream. In the dream he was taken by one of Gods messengers into every home in his branch.
“He saw that Stan was not allowed to enter the truly dedicated homes. A beautiful wall of prayer was standing firmly around every home which had regular family worship. Each day of family worship added another stone of strength to the wall of prayer which Satan could not penetrate.
“In the homes where family worship was observed only occasionally, Satan could creep in with sin and sorrow. And in the homes where there was no family worship, Satan freely came and went as his evil heart desired.
“This made the pastor realize the importance and great need for constant daily prayer, scripture study, and daily worship in our homes.”
