Cook Turkey once, Eat twice!

I still have no idea what’s in the freezer..   I find good deals, buy them & they go in the freezer. 

One of my goals this week is to defrost the freezer so I have been emptying it & using some of those good deals.  Tonight I cooked the last Turkey Breast that I had bought when it was on sale(probably around Easter).

My family does love to eat a Turkey in a Pot.  It is a wonderful smell to tempt their tummies all day. 

We paired it with potatoes and salad with our first cherry tomatoes from the garden!

My goal right now is to not heat up my house.  Every single recipe this week for supper on my meal plan is a crockpot one.

Turkey in a Pot

Mexican Chicken

Pirates Stew

Scalloped Potatoes & Ham

Spaghetti Casserole

It was double kitchen duty by cooking the turkey.   Usually I use the leftover turkey to make Turkey Noodle Soup but it is too warm for soup right now.

We have sandwiches on the menu a couple of days this week.  So we will have turkey sandwiches with real turkey instead of deli meat.  MMMM a little mayo & a garden fresh tomato & lettuce. 

Okay now I am getting hungry.  Even better is the knowledge that we had two meals for 6 people for under $9. Yes!

How are you keeping your kitchen cool or saving money on meals this week?

Repackaging Vinegar

 

If you’ve been around here for very long you know I love vinegar for cleaning, getting rid of that sour smell in the washer & removing hard water stains. 

 

Around Easter I got a couple of great coupons for some almost free Vinegar!  I used the coupons to buy vinegar in this size.  For some reason I really loved the glass bottles.

Plastic just doesn’t do it for me.

I have plastic in my kitchen but I would rather store in glass if I can.  There is a reason for this but I am not going to follow that bunny trail right now—maybe later.

Before long my nice glass bottles were empty.  What is a girl to do?  Recyle—yes but I just couldn’t.  So I discovered that I can keep my glass bottles from the vinegar & USE THEM!

I bought one large size vinegar for a whopping $2.38 from Walmart.  I had never bought this size before as it doesn’t fit in my cabinet but those glass bottles do!

So I just got out my cute little funnel & repackaged the vinegar in a smaller size REUSABLE bottle!

Buying the large size vinegar is less per ounce than a smaller bottle.  This saves me some cash, is good for the environment and stops me from buying more plastic that I just have to remember to take to the recycling drop off!

Building Perennial Flower Beds

Wow summer finally has arrived!  I am not sure where spring went but we’ve jumped right in to mid 90 temperatures. 

That means a couple of things. 

#1 Joshua, my 9 year old, will be in the water as much as possible.  He is armed with water balloons & guns.  He pretty much lives in his swim trunks right now.

#2 I am out in my garden A LOT!  I love growing plants/flowers!

The tomato plants in my crowded garden are growing nicely.  I am out there every morning or evening to water & pull weeds.  This is not a big job because we laid newspaper in the paths between rows & covered it with bagged grass from mowing.   I like this challenge because I get satisfaction out of feeding my family from the garden.

Another challenge—planting flowers in a shady yard. 

We have a ton of trees which makes our yard nice & shady but challenging to plant perennials.  I like to do some annuals but truly I love the ease of plants/flowers coming up year after year without a lot of work on my part.  I have carved out one spot of sun to have a flower garden.  And you guessed it—there are perennials in it.

Starting Point

Just pick one place to work on this year.  If you try to tackle it all then you will be quickly overwhelmed.  Also, looking at gardening magazines & blogs are a great way to get ideas. 

I try to add at least one perennial plant to each area I am working on each year. This year I am working in more than one area because I feel like I can handle it and the kids are helping. It is one thing to do it by yourself & another to have helpers. :)

Soil

Your dirt is important.  If it is clay(as mine is) you are going to have to help it along.  I add peat moss, sand & compost every spring to loosen things up.  I also will turn over the dirt in the fall & mix in leaves to help increase the quality of the soil.  Don’t just start sticking plants in the dirt—you may need to make some changes.

Buying Plants

I love perennials.  Perennials = Low maintenance. 

--It comes up year after year

--Often multiplies & gives you more.

--Perennial plants are NOT more expensive than annuals.  Think about it.  You spend $4-10 on a nice 1/2 gallon or gallon size plant.

 

Filling a bed with annuals year after year = spend more money & time in the long run. 

Plant something that will last & you can move your focus on to another bed or area of your yard. 

Free(or nearly free) Plants

Ask your friends or better ask people with gorges flower gardens.  Most plants will spread or multiple each year—hmmm I bet God planned it that way!  So there are some years I just can’t give away enough Iris’s.  Last year my mother-in-law had purple coneflower’s everywhere & guess who took every one she would give away?  Gardeners are willing to share and when you have some extra—give it away!

Another nearly free way to boost your gardens?  Don’t shop up front at the home & garden store.  Go to the back.  Sometimes there will be racks of reduced plants there that are done flowering or have gotten a bit dried out or root bound so the store will clearance them.  They will not always grow, they will sometimes take a full year to bloom again but you will have paid a fraction of the cost. 

At Easter when the lily’s are done blooming?  Volunteer to "take care” of the plants from church.  I had a couple that way & just stuck them in the ground.  They were seriously dead looking when I planted them.  This year?  Well they haven’t bloomed yet but I just can’t wait!

Last time I was at my hairdressers house she mentioned that she had Lamb’s Ear that she wanted GONE.  It had spread & she was tired of it.  So I volunteered to dig it up for her.  It is going to fill in this hard to mow spot and a couple of others around the yard!  Thanks Dalene!

Final word

As you probably can tell I try to make gardening as easy as possible.  One more tip is to MULCH, MULCH, & add more MULCH.  I hate to spend the $ on shredded bark but it is worth it.  Pulling the weeds gets old so if you can’t buy mulch at least lay down newspaper and cover it with grass that you are mowing up anyway.  Mulching helps retain the moisture in the soil, keeps the weeds back, enrich the soil, and generally looks nicer.

So there is how I’ve gotten my perennial gardens going without spending an arm & a leg.  Do you have any great tips to share?  Or maybe a flower or two to trade.  Chime in and tell us how you’ve done it.

 

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Simple Lives Thursday

Strategic Shopping My other Job

A friend of mine asked to take lessons when she read my status on Facebook last week about only paying $17 for $71 for groceries. That made me laugh because I just follow several deal blogs & do what they tell me! 

Especially my friend Gwen’s site, The Savings Jungle, which details the local sales & coupon deals.

Here is my routine!

1.  I buy two St. Louis Post papers & one local paper every Sunday on the way home from church.  (My kids love this because they get to read the comics—family tradition here)  This costs me about $5.  If I use just 5 coupons I will break even.

2.  If I get the time on Sunday, I flip through the coupons & take out & clip any I KNOW that I will use.  If not, I will do it while watching a movie one night that week.

3.  I combine the coupon inserts.  That way I have the same coupons together.  Notice I am not clipping at this time.  I also throw away all the non coupon(ads) pages from the inserts to reduce the bulk.

4.  What is left of the inserts gets put in my coupon binder.  I mark on the front of the inserts the dates so I can easily find a coupon I need(based on the date).  Helps my poor eyes not have to read the fine print later.

5.  Locally, there is a free paper that is delivered on Wednesday evening.  When that arrives in my drive way I look through the ads for items that I feel are good deals.  I frequent several stores—Schnucks, Gerbes, Mosers, Hy-vee, & Aldis.  I also go to Target & Wal-mart on less frequent occasions.  I also keep a price book to help me with knowing if a price is a good deal.

6.  When I find a good deal I circle it in black sharpie so it really jumps off the page at me.

7.  Thursday morning I make a weekly deals round up page from the black circles(idea from Life..Your Way) so I can see easily what I am shopping for when I go.  I also mark down any coupons I know about that match up on this page.  I check The Savings Jungle to see if she’s found a few more good deals & mark those down on my page.

8.  I check my Menu Plan to see what I am going to need  for the the next 7 days and add any ingredients that are needed.  Fresh fruit, vegies, bread, & milk get added here too.

9.  Lastly I really looks to see what stores have the most deals.  I might go to just one or two.  Gas prices factor in to this decision. 

We have piano lessons on Thursday so I hit the stores that are on the way & closest to that.  I shop while the kids are at their lesson so I am using my time wisely.  We are also out on Tuesdays so I can go to the other stores then if I decide it is really necessary.

10.  After my round up page is created I gather the coupons that I need from my binder or my clipped coupon stash(this travels with me).  I don’t take my big binder with me to the store.  I also print a lot of coupons off the internet and I store those in my traveling stash.

11.  Now I am ready to shop.  I take along my list & my coupon stash every time I go in to town because you never know when you might have time to swing in a store.

All these steps have evolved and are still evolving today.  I am sure a year from now I will have found something new or better to use.  So take what works for you and leave the rest!  But I hope this helps you save money & find a little more wiggle room in your budget!

Clean & Shiny Stove

Some chores just get put off, forgotten and procrastinated until they are horrible.

This spring has been a time of spring cleaning for our family.  I had surgery in January so MANY things around the house just had to wait.

One of them was my stove.  It had gotten BAD. 

One of the things I have resolved this year is to use more natural cleaners and less chemicals.  So far using vinegar to get rid of hard water stains & get rid of a musty smell in my washer are the only changes I have made.

One thing that has built up in my kitchen is the grease on the back where the knobs are located.  It is a hard thing to take a photo but here is my best try.

I tried wiping it off with vinegar but that didn’t take off the stickiness of the grease.  This was going to need a stronger scratchier cleaner.  I decided to pull out good old baking soda. 

I wet my rag down, made a bit of a paste & just went to work.  I love it when something so simple works so well.  The sticky grease was gone and things were shiny once again.

The stove top wasn’t greasy but there were several places that had food that was cooked on.  One of our favorite foods is rice and it regularly boils over.  More baking soda here & worked up the paste right on the stove top.  I did let it set for several minutes before I went to work but again the baking soda went right to work.

 

The last thing that desperately needed to be done was to clean out the oven.  As you can see it has been a LONG while.

 

I could have run the self-cleaning cycle but with that much in the bottom it would have stunk up the house so I just used a little whisk broom to sweep it all out.  I will still run the cleaning cycle but on a day where I can open the windows up to air out the smell.

Ruined Meals aka Perfect Pot of Rice

There have been many here in the past 20 years of marriage.  I still manage every once in a while to burn something. 

One of the things I would do regularly in the early days of our marriage is burn rice.  Steve LOVES rice.  I don’t think I can relay how much he loves it.  Seriously if I was out of everything in the house he would be satisfied if I would cook a big pot of rice & put it on the table. The kids have taken after him in this—well all except one(that’s my boy!)  Oh and it doesn’t matter if it is white or brown rice.  They are both accepted here!  I push the brown but occasionally we have the white for a treat.

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My parents hardly EVER ate rice and if we did it was minute rice.  I tried that ONCE with Steve & he just looked at me like “What is this?”  The only “real” rice in his book is the kind that you boil for 20-30 minutes.

Now one big thing in in this equation is that when we were first married, we had glass cookware.  I am not sure anyone can keep from burning rice in glass cookware.  It heats up faster than metal therefore the rice touching the glass would cook WAY faster than the rest of it & would burn every single time.  I also probably turned the burner up too high—hurrying it because I was used to minute rice that was done . . . well . . . in a minute.

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Perfect rice isn’t a hard recipe-in fact my 8 year old can cook it.  But you have to know how to make it. 

It takes 2 ingredients—rice & water. 

The ration is 1:2.  So if you want to cook 2 cups of rice you use 4 cups of water.  That is the amount I regularly cook for my family of 6 when we have it as a side dish. 

I use Pampered Chef cookware right now—I was a consultant for quite a few years.  It is nonstick & easy to use.  The right tools make all the difference.  Remember that rice gets bigger as it cooks so don’t choose a pan that is just big enough to hold your water because soon the rice will overflow the pan.

Step 1:  Put your water & rice in your pan and bring it to a boil.  Now you can keep it at that temperature but you may have it over flow the pot as it boils & then it will be a big mess.  Then you will need to know how to clean your stove top.  I do this regularly so don’t feel bad. 

Step 2:  A better way is to turn down the heat & let it simmer.  As the rice gets close to done you will notice there isn’t as much water in the pot. 

Step 3:  When you can no longer “see” the water under the rice it is a good time to turn the heat all the way down to the lowest setting.  Let it cook just a few more minutes & then turn it off.  Don’t remove the lid!  The rice will continue to cook a bit if you keep the heat in.

Notice I didn’t put any time amounts on this.  Rice takes about 20-30 minutes but it depends on how hot your burner is and the kind of pot you are using.  So play with it & see how it works for you.

By the way rice is VERY inexpensive so if you have a crew to fee & they like rice it is a money saving meal!   If you love Mexican check out the recipe below

Mexican Rice

2 cups brown rice

2 T olive oil

1 (6 oz) can tomato sauce

4 cups water

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 crushed garlic clove or 1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

Heat oil in pot & add brown rice.  Stir over high heat until it turns opaque and white.  Keep stirring until it turns golden brown.  Mix tomato sauce, water, oinion, garlic & salt.  Cover and turn to a very low heat.  Let cook for 1 hour.  Don’t lift the pot lid or stir it.  I promise if you leave it be then you will have perfect Mexican rice!

 

Banish the Sour Smell in the Washer!

I am so excited about this money saving tip!  Last fall my old washer just quit so we needed a new one and the debate was top loading or front loading.  Either way we were going to be saving some money on a newer more energy efficient model.  We went with a Kenmore front load. 

It was a good switch.  Our clothes come out so much dryer!  That means that they dry faster which is awesome for the electric bill from the dryer.  I am finding they are done in a flash when I hang them outside!

The one thing that my hubby was really worried about was the smell that can occur in the washer.  It happens when the small amount of water that is left in the washer sours if the door is shut after a cycle. 

It is a super tight seal so the water cannot evaporate.  We have been making sure to leave the washer door open after each cycle and even drying off the plastic around the opening to avoid this.  I haven’t been able to detect any smell but dear hubby has on a couple of occasions.

We bought the recommended cleaning tablets & ran a cleansing cycle but it seemed to come back.  Nothing too bad but bothersome to all involved and we certainly didn’t want it to get worse!

A friend(that is where I get my best tips!) and I were talking about homemade laundry soap and she made the random comment that she used vinegar in her washer.  I of course asked why because that seemed a curious thing to do!  I love vinegar for hard water deposits but laundry?  She said Oh I do that to keep that musty smell away.  Voila!  Problem solved.

Since then I have been testing using the vinegar in my washer and it WORKED!  The smell in the washer is completely gone. 

Here is what I do.  I fill the soap as normal and then I fill the bleach spot with vinegar.  It isn’t much just a few tablespoons!

I also did some research on vinegar in a front load washer.  Go here if you want to read the whole thing.

Highlights

• Vinegar in the last rinse(put it in the softener spot) will remove the detergent &  restores absorbability to towels.
• There is no vinegar smell everything just smells fresh and clean.  No perfume smell
• Vinegar whitens whites with out the harshness of bleach so your clothes will last longer(oh yeah!)
• Whites will not turn yellow with vinegar!
• Softens mineral deposits
• Softens clothing allowing the detergent to work better so you can use less detergent(less $—AWESOME!)
• Removes odors from clothes.
• Harm the environment or fibers in material

I hope this helps someone else avoid stinky laundry!  If you are under piles & piles check out last weeks post on Keeping Up with Mount Washmore!

Removing hard water deposits

We have hard water.   It is just a fact of life.  We don’t have a water softener for various reasons but it creates problems with cleaning.

Things seem to get cemented on and I cannot “clean” them off with normal human effort. 

I had a “Duh!” moment yesterday.  I was looking at the spill catch underneath the water dispenser on the front of our refrigerator.  It was “GROSS” and I wasn’t looking forward to spending an hour scrubbing it with baking soda to get the discoloration and build up off of it.  However I couldn’t ignore it any more. 

Then I had a thought.  Steve used vinegar to clean out the humidifier that we use in the kids rooms when they are sick.  It seems to collect those hard water crystals super fast—probably the process it goes through to cause the water vapor.

So I went out to get the big jug of vinegar out of the garage.  I filled up the spill catch & walked away for a few minutes to do something.  When I returned—WOW!  I couldn’t believe it.  The scum was gone almost gone & I was kicking myself because I didn’t take a “before” picture.  Anyway you’ll have to take my word for it.

However there is one other place that was developing a bit of a sick look.  It is around the drain in our main bathroom—where I shower.  ICK!  I convinced Elizabeth to go and try out my cure for hard water deposits!  I went with camera in hand to check it out a few minutes later.  Here is what I found.

Kinda gross huh?

But after my magic(ha!) cure?  Here is what I had to look at.

Sometimes it is the small things in life that make me happy.  I don’t like using chemicals around the house so using something this simple just made my day!  Not to mention that vinegar is SO much cheaper than any other cleaner I have tried on yucky water deposits!

What other “homemade solutions” do you use?  Please share!

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