Thursday, March 29, 2012

CALLING ALL GENTLY USED CHILDREN'S SPRING & SUMMER CLOTHES!


I need my house to look like this! That means I have new clothes to add to my consignment space!  Let me know if you have clothes you want to consign with me.


Monday, March 26, 2012

I saved 83% off at Safeway!

So I did another quick trip to Safeway to pick up an early edition of the Sunday newspaper, so glad I did.  Look what I picked up:
  • 4 bags of spinach - Here (scroll down to yellow oval) .75/1 coupon
  • Sunday newspaper
  • 2 Pantiliners - 3/25 SS $1/1 coupon
  • 1 Nivea lipstick - Here $1/1 coupon


Not bad for $2.97, an 83% off orginially was $14.96.  I'm thinking we'll be eating ALOT of salads for the next few days or I might try my hand at cooking the spinach so I can freeze it.  I think these prices are good through 3/27, so you have time to pick them up.  Have fun!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Watch out world, I'm learning something new!

Look what I picked up (for free) from my library!  I'm hoping to find some good cost cutting ideas from these books.  Unfortunately, we can't have bee hives, goats, or cows in town, but I will be letting you know if they have any good ideas that we "suburbanites" can use.



Wednesday, March 21, 2012

A funny thing happen in Safeway today

So I dropped my youngest off at school today in the midst of a snow storm.  SNOW!  It's the beginning of spring and we have snow, I guess this is response to the sunny winter we had.  I stopped off quickly to make my rounds at Safeway, look what I found:


I was able to get 4 packages of yogurt for 80 cents!  That's 5 cents each!  A STOCK UP PRICE!  I will guarantee my children will snarf eat these during Spring Break.  I also picked up a pound of ground beef for 30% off, which made it $1.88, a good price.  We have a few packages of ground beef, but I wanted to make meat balls & freeze them so I picked it up.  And what household with children don't have banana's, it's a staple in our home, even though the price is 64 cents/lb.  If you can find a better price, let me know.  So the entire purchase was $5.44. 

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Blackberries: Oregon's state weed?

Blackberries are abundant here in Oregon.  At this point they are so annoying that sometimes I classify them as a weed.  But I have to admit that I love it on summer days I can send the kids out to eat as much as they want right off the vine.  I think last summer I froze about 6-8 gallon size Ziploc bags for future enjoyment.

Future enjoyment?  Oh yea, my husband has a sweet tooth.  A close second is a berry tooth, any kind of berries it doesn't matter.  So how do I show my appreciation to him for all the hard work he does?  BLACKBERRY PIE.

Here is my recipe for blackberry pie:

Filling:
4 C blackberries
3/4 to 1 C sugar
1/4 C flour
Add all ingredients into bowl, mix, & set aside

Double crust:
2 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 C shortening
6-7 T cold water

Mix together flour & salt.  Cut in shortening until size of small peas.  Sprinkle 1 T of water at a time over mixture.  Mix until dough is moistened.  Cut dough in half.  Roll out over floured surface until size of pie dish.   Put dough into dish & press edges to remove air bubbles.  Add filling into pie dish.  Repeat with second half of dough.  Place on top of filling.  Trim edges of dough, press edges with fork to seal edges, & make slits in top dough for air removal.

Cover edges with foil & place in 375 degree oven for 25 minutes.  Remove foil 7 bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Lasagna - just a bit different

I have a friend who introduced me to this thrifty tip. 

Use cottage cheese in place of ricotta cheese in lasagna.  The thought of cottage cheese makes my stomach turn, but she said ricotta cheese is just a smaller curd.  So I gave it a try.  Know what?  It was good.  I thought I'd hate it, but it tasted just the same.  Give it a try. 

Cottage cheese is cheaper than ricotta.  You can even place the entire tub in the freezer.   AND BTW, I see a lot more coupons for cottage cheese than ricotta now. Enjoy your dinner! 

If you wanna know my recipe for lasagna here it is: 1 can spaghetti sauce, lasagna noodles (either ready to make- add 1/2+ C water to sauce for ready to make or cooked yourself), shredded cheese, cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese.  Layer noodles, spread cottage cheese, sprinkle shredded & Parmesan cheese, cover with sauce.  Bake in 375 oven for 20-30 minutes.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Irish eye's are smilin' Part 2

Eureka!  I found a way to make hash browns better!  For those who missed part 1 go here.

Soak the shredded potatoes for a few minutes until the water becomes milky white & has bubbles.  Squeeze the water out of the potatoes, fry in a few tablespoons of oil, & cover.  Cook for at least 5 minutes or until desired crispiness & turn.  I add all season salt to mine & they are WONDERFUL!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

PTL for my stockpile!

I just love my stockpile!  I had on my menu Lemon Chicken on Sunday night for dinner & was shocked I didn't have lemon jello :(  What to do?  What to do?  PTL for the lemon's I picked while in California.  See the post here.  Here is the recipe for "Take out lemon chicken":

1 T oil
1 lb boneless chicken
1 pkg snow peas 
1 sm red pepper, cut into strips
2 pkg Jello brand lemon flavor gelatin (was originally 1)
1 T cornstarch
1/2 C chicken broth
2 T Kraft Zesty Italian dressing
2 cloves minced garlic

Heat oil in large skillet on med-high heat.  Add chicken cook through.  Add peas & peppers, coo & stir 2 mins.

Mix dry gelatin & cornstarch in small bowl.  Add broth, dressing & garlic, stir until dissolved.  Add to skillet.  Reduce heat to med, cook 3 min or until sauce is thickened, stir frequently.  Serve over rice


********************************************************************************

While I didn't have lemon jello I substituted lemon juice about 1/4 cup, cornstarch 1 T & 1/2 C corn syrup.  I would recommend to increase the lemon juice to 1/3 for more for lemon flavor, 1/4 C was too mild.  I didn't add peas or peppers because I would be boycotted if I did.  Doesn't it look delish? 


Thursday, March 1, 2012

When life gives you lemons make lemonade!

I've been gone for a while.  I haven't posted in almost a month.  I went to sunny (& HOT)California to help my mother in law with my husband's grandmother estate who passed away. 

Seven fun filled days in a dust filled, purple accented, clown infested trailer in a senior park with a preschooler is not the top of my vacation wish list, but I went down to help, that's what family does; helps each other out.  I was able to see family & friends & even tour my old house that my father built.  In the end I was glad I went & reminisce about growing up in the country.

We didn't come back with a lot, but I was able to get fresh lemons off of her tree.  There is something about the smell of freshly picked lemons that make my heart flutter.  I got at least a dozen.  A DOZEN!  My house smells so wonderful right now I wish I had a scratch 'n sniff button so you could enjoy it too.


I have juiced about 9 which I froze in ice cube trays to be used later.  My thrifty husband asked if we could use the lemon rind in food, so I graded the rind this morning & they are drying in my dehydrator as we speak.  Third, to be even more thrifty, I put all the left overs in an old jar & added vinegar to make lemon scented disinfected kitchen cleaner.  Nothing goes to waste here!

As an added treat I will try to make some lemon bars, with the remaining lemons, for my husband who took care of everything back here while I was away.

While away I learned a lot about death, trust & wills, taxes & the government, I will be blogging about my wonderful adventures soon.  I hope that maybe it will help someone save not only time but money too.