Midway to Paradise

a few pics

I thought I would share a few randome pictures today.  This is my kids and me on Easter morning...

The sunflower cookies I made my friend Crystal for her birthday...

And the baker's rack I got at a yard sale for $2!

best-ever banana bars

These are from a Gooseberry Patch cookbook called Made From Scratch.  They were awesome!  I put homemade cream cheese icing on them, but they would have been just as good plain...

Best-Ever Banana Bars

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/3 c. sugar

2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

2 very ripe bananas. mashed

3/4 c. shortening, melted

4 eggs

2 t. vanilla extract

     Combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in large mixing bowl; set aside.  Mix bananas, shortening, eggs and vanilla in another mixing bowl; blend well.  Add banana mixture to flour mixture; stir until just moistened.  Pour into a greased 15"x10" baking sheet; bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until center springs back when touched.  Cut into bars.

puffed pancake

I made this for breakfast one day last week.  It was pretty good.  It is from a Gooseberry Patch cookbook called Hometown Favorites.

Puffed Pancake

6 eggs, beaten

1/4 c. orange juice

1 c. milk

1 c. all-purpose flour

1/4 t. salt

1/2 c. sugar

1/3 stick butter, melted

     In a large bowl, combine eggs, juice, milk, flour, salt and sugar; beat well.  Place butter into a 13"x9" baking dish, pour egg mixture into dish.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until pancake is puffed and golden.  Remove from oven, pancake will deflate slightly as it cools.

     Serve hot with jam or cinnamon sugar.

buttermilk mashed potatoes

I got this recipe from Barefoot Contessa at Home by Ina Garten.  They were a big hit here!  Even Emily loved them, and she doesn't usually eat many potatoes...

Buttermilk Mashed potatoes

Kosher salt

3 pounds boiling potatoes, such as Yukon Gold

1/2 cup whole milk

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter

3/4 to 1 cup buttermilk, shaken

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

     In a large pot, bring 4 quarts water and 2 tablespoons salt to a boil.  Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and cut them into 1 1/2-inch cubes.  Add them to the boiling water and bring the water back to a boil.  Lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 10-15 minutes, until the potatoes fall apart easily when pierced with a fork.

     Meanwhile, heat the whole milk and butter in a small saucepan, making sure it doesn't boil.  Set aside until the potatoes are done.

     As soon as the potatoes are tender, drain them in a colander.  Place a food mill fitted with a small disk or blade over a heat-proof bowl.  Pass the potatoes through the food mill, turning the handle back and forth.  As soon as the potatoes are mashed, stir in the hot milk-and-butter mixture with a rubber spatula.  Add enough buttermilk to make the potatoes creamy.  Add 2 teaspoons of salt and the pepper, or more to taste, and serve hot.  To keep the potatoes warm, place the bowl over a pan of simmering water for up to 30 minutes.  You can add a little extra hot milk to keep them creamy.

     Choose potatoes that are firm and have no sprouts.

     Don't be tempted to heat the buttermilk with the whole milk, it will curdle.

Old-Time Beef Stew

This is another recipe from Soups from Amish and Mennonite Kitchens by Pennsylvania Dutch Cookbooks.  I used half tomato juice and half water, but the next time I make it, I will use all water, because Dave doesn't care much for tomato. 

Old Time Beef Stew

2 lbs. beef cubes

2 Tbsp shortening

1 large onion, sliced

4 cups boiling water or tomato juice

1 Tbsp. salt

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 Tbsp. pepper

1/2 Tbsp. paprika

Dash of allspice or ground cloves

6 carrots cut in quarters

6 potatoes cut in chunks

1/2 cup cold water

1/4 cup flour

     Brown beef cubes in shortening for about 20 minutes.  Add onion, water, salt, lemon juice, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, paprika and allspice or cloves.  Cover and simmer 2 hours.  Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.

     Add vegetables.  Simmer 30 minutes longer.

     Combine water and flour.  Stir until smooth.  Pull vegetables and meat to 1 side of pan.  Add flour mixture and stir until gravy is thickened.

     Variation:  Add 1 1/2 cups green beans with vegetables.

menu planning with no budget

Menu Planning with No Budget
by Leanne Ely, C.N.C

I’ve had a few emails asking me how to plan menus when you have no money. Well, this is a subject that is near and dear to my heart. Been there/done that! It isn’t a lot of fun when you have $25 in your pocket to feed your family for a week! That’s what happened to me in the mid-90’s. My budget was $100 a month to feed my family!

I want to preface what I’m saying with it was an emergency and I had no choice. It wasn’t easy—but it was necessary. So instead of whining, I did something and I got real creative. Now keep in mind: we’re not talking diapers, detergent or any other non-food items—just food, and food alone.

Okay, so here’s what I did.

First off, I utilized the loss leaders the stores advertise each week. I shopped at about 2-3 stores a week and made my menus according to what was on sale (after awhile, you don’t even need to do that much—you will have quite a stocked pantry and freezer if you shop via this method).

I also availed myself of the scratch and dent section of the grocery store. Not all grocery stores have this, but be on the look out for a big cart at the end of an aisle filled to overflowing with bread or another like item (I once bought whole wheat bread for .25 a loaf. I bought 10 loaves because I had the freezer space and made my (now ex) husband’s lunch every day—and saved a fortune). Look in places you don’t normally look—toward the back of the store or a shelf over by the restrooms.

I also went early in the morning and took full advantage of the markdown meats. Yeah, it was a hassle and at the time, I had two little kids. But I got huge markdowns and sometimes, I even asked for markdowns of stuff (that maybe they missed) and cleaned house (I bought a HUGE fresh turkey right after Thanksgiving for $4 that way). There’s a good lesson there—always ASK when you don’t see something that should be marked down (ask the dairy manager, meat manager, etc.) Check the dates on everything and ask for markdowns when appropriate.

I bought my milk this way too. Milk freezes well after you pour a little out, or it pops and leaks all over your freezer! Simply thaw it overnight in the fridge or in a sink full of cold water during the day, add a pinch of salt—it is a preservative, shake it up and it’ll last a week. I bought whole gallons of milk for 50 cents a piece. Other times, I mixed dried milk with fresh and my troops never knew the difference.

I also bought most of my produce marked down. You can always cut off a bad spot and make due. I made applesauce out of the apples that didn’t make good eating apples. If I didn’t buy it marked down, I bought it on sale and in season. I avoided imported produce as that it was almost always more expensive, even when it was on sale.

I also found out about grocery outlets. These stores are usually listed in the yellow pages under surplus food or salvage food. They’re usually not in the best neighborhoods and there are even a few undesirables in these types of stores (not always, but sometimes). However, it was survival time and I bought stuff there that was way seriously marked down.

And last—I bought cheap food! We ate a TON of dried beans. We ate cheap cuts of meat cooked in the crockpot, we ate homemade everything (that convenience stuff costs a fortune).

Breakfast was a biggie. I made homemade pancakes, waffles, oatmeal. When you make it yourself, it doesn’t cost much. Good filling food and infinitely cheaper than cold cereal.

Speaking of breakfast, we had Breakfast for Dinner a few times a month. Breakfast foods are cheap and if you add a little ambience (light a few candles and put the OJ--made yourself from frozen concentrate--in wineglasses) everyone will enjoy your cheap trick!

Our beverage of choice was (and still is) water. Water costs nothing. I had a water filter that enabled me to skip the expensive bottled water and that helped a lot. We had OJ for breakfast (and breakfast only was the rule) and that’s it. We had milk too, but it was only allowed with the meal and even then, only one glass. One glass is adequate…no one in my house was deprived or starved.

Nothing went to waste in my house—I mean NOTHING. If there was any leftover anything, I froze it and made it into soup later that week (no, I didn’t scrape the food off my kids plates, but honestly? There wasn’t any usually). My famous Rubber Chicken recipe was born out of that period of time (on my website!).

That’s it in a nutshell. It took extra time that I had back then. I figured the way I slashed my grocery bill so dramatically, it was like having a part time job without the taxes, pantyhose and rush hour! I got to stay home with my kids and we made it through that very rough time and ate quite well.

I hope some of these tips will help any of you who are wondering how to make a menu with no budget. You sometimes just have to do what you have to do! I did it and so can you!

the generous wife

the generous wife

UPS Airlines

UPS Airlines

Just in case you need a laugh:

Remember it takes a college degree to fly a plane, but only a high school diploma to fix one...a reassurance to those of us who fly routinely in our jobs. After every flight, UPS pilots fill out a form, called a 'gripe sheet,' which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight.

Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by UPS ' pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance
engineers.

By the way, UPS is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an accident.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.
*
P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.
*
P: Something loose in cockpit
S: Something tightened in cockpit
*
P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.
*
P: Auto pilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.
*
P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.
*
P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable
level.
*
P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what friction locks are for.
*
P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.
*
P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.
*
P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search
*
P: Aircraft handles funny.
(I love this one!):
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right and be serious.
*
P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.
*
P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.
*
And the best one for last
*
P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget

frugal graduation gift ideas