Recipe: Hot Banana Pepper Mustard

I found this on a canning website & had to try this for my husband.  Our peppers are growing sporadically, so I had to get some of them put up.  I can't handle hot & spicy things, but this is mild with a sweet after taste.  My husband LOVED IT.  It is super easy.

I cut this recipe by 3/4 th.  There was no way I had 40 peppers. 

9-‎10 hot banana peppers

1 C yellow mustard

1 1/4 C sugar

1/4 C honey

1 C vinegar (they had apple cider)

1/4 tsp salt

3/8 C flour

1/4 C water (which I forgot to add).

Blend peppers until smooth. Pour into pot add all other ingredients except flour. Bring to hard boil. Whisk flour & water until smooth & pour into boiling mixture. Continue to boil for 5 mins. Process in water canner for 5-10 mins.  This made 3 of those little jelly jars & 2 bigger ones.  At least enough for a years worth.

Safeway Steal: 6 packages of cream cheese for .42

To be honest I haven't been posting my grocery deals.  It seems like prices are increasing daily, the price I'm paying currently is not my rock bottom price, but I may have to adjust for the never-ending price increases.  But I had to show you this dandy transaction I did today at Safeway.  Just remember a few things:

1. Everything was 50% off
2. I had NO coupons (oh the horror)
3. My children were acting like mental patients b/c the sugar from the FREE cookie hit their systems.
4. PTL I added the coupons from Just 4 U program

The cream cheese was originally $1.79 w/50% off =<.90>.  My Just 4 U price was .97.  If I do the math correctly 97-90=.07!  I guess that they don't take the Just 4 U price into consideration for the 50% off!  It worked in my favor.  This is why I add EVERY Safeway coupon to my card.  You never know when it will work in your favor.

The question you're probably asking is "Why did I buy 6?  What am I going to do with that many?"

1. Cream cheese freeze well.  Once it is thawed, mix it up b/c it does breaks apart.
2. I make a killer Chicken Parmesan Spinach Bundle.
3. I make a killer cheese cake.
4. Here is the recipe.

Thrifty Tip: Homemade garlic powder

Yea I know I can buy garlic powder at the store super cheap, but we're waiting to see if my husband will once again get onto the unemployment line (YIPPEE ~ sarcasm right there folks).  So needless to say that we're trying to save money EVERYWHERE. 

So we're looking at everything we eat or use that we can make ourselves.  What's the first thing you do when you wake up? OK second thing.  Eat breakfast.  I have a habit of having garlic toast for breakfast.  A nice crisp piece of sourdough bread with butter, garlic & onion powder with a diet Dr. Pepper is what gets me going in the morning.  I know I'm weird. 

While munchin down on my breakfast of champions I got a quiet moment to read the label.  Do you know what's in garlic powder?  Dehydrated garlic & some other stuff.  Guess what I did?  Yep.  Made garlic powder!

1. Get a garlic clove, double check to make sure that it has big cloves b/c it's easier to slice.
2. Peel & slice clove .
3. Dehydrate slices.
4. Once dehydrated, ground the heck out of the slices.  (I use our Magic Bullet, b/c grinding things into a pulp is the best thing it can do.)

 

Thrifty Tip: Regrowing celery

I don't know where I saw this thrifty tip, but I decided to try it out. You can grow new celery from an old stalk.  I cut the stalks about 2-3 inches from the bottom & re cut the bottom so water would be able to travel through the stalks.

Day 1

 Day 2

Day 3

 Day 4

 Day 5

Day 6

Look at how much it grew in just 6 days!  AMAZING!  Now I don't know if it will taste the same, but it is worth a try.  Nothing was added except water.  I may transplant it into my garden, now that it is warm here.  It's a great way to double your food by cutting your costs in half.  Try it out & tell me how it works for you.

I found the most amazing thing while digging in my mulch

I just have to laugh.  Look at what I found in my mulch!  A geranium!  Right next to it, an onion.  We tossed the geranium out a few months ago, they just don't make it through the winter in the PNW.  I was kinda sad, it was something that my husband's grandmother, who died recently, gave us.  Guess my mulch is just what it needed!

If you don't have a mulch pit yet, you gotta start!  It is wwwwaaaayyyy cheaper than buying mulch for your garden.  Just remember green/brown/green/brown.  A layer of green (veggies, green leaves etc)/a layer of brown (somthing that is already dead, dry leaves or dirt) then alternate.