refrigerator jam

The other day I walked into my kitchen and something smelled great.  Like a fruity candle. Or a middle school hallway at the beginning of the day.  The culprit was a basket full of super ripe nectarines.  They were dangerously close to the point where I normally would have cut my losses and tossed them out.  But this time, I just couldn't.  They were too soft to eat without making a terrible mess, and just enough to them to make discarding the lot painful.

So I stepped into the 1950s and turned them into refrigerator jam. 

Since then, I've done the same with a carton of strawberries that were too tart for my kids liking.  It's such a simple process that requires only three ingredients: fruit, water, & sugar. 

First, wash the fruit and cut away any stems.  Put them in a sauce pan with some water.  Not so much water that they're completely covered, but enough so that if they were little children they would be splashing in the kiddie pool.  Set the pot over medium high heat and let the water cook them a bit.  After a couple of minutes take a spoon and start smooshing the fruit.  At this point, add sugar.  This is not an exact science...I just dumped in sugar until I felt good about it.  Maybe 1 part sugar to 3 parts fruit.  If you like things less sweet, use less.  Allow this mixture to cook over low heat for a little while.  I set my stove to the lowest setting and went outside to pick weeds.  About  20 minutes later I came back to it, smooshed it a little more and poured it in a jar.  (The nectarines I ran through the food processor because I had left the skin on.)

This will keep in the fridge for a couple of days.  Use it on toast, crackers, ice cream, cupcakes, pancakes or a spoon.  If you made a ton, you can turn it into bread.  I'll share that recipe tomorrow.  I've got almond/nectarine bread in the oven right now...I'll let you know how it turns out. 

 

for the teachers

We had some fun last week getting the kids' teachers gifts ready.

They were quick, easy and budget friendly. And green. (Bonus!)

I let the kids choose jars from the "jar drawer." Then we glued a votive candle into the bottom of said jar. Tied some bits and bobs from the sewing box around the neck of the jar. Added a jingle bell, and voila!

Lamp ReVamp

I have an awkwardly shaped living room. In my awkwardly shaped living room, I have an angled sofa, with an ugly lamp behind it. The lamp was one we purchased for around $10 when we were first married. You know the kind; black with accents in brass and green glass? From the '90s? That kind. Some where along the way, I spray painted it all green. Not good. Not good at all.

Well, I got SO sick of that stupid lamp, that I began a nationwide search to replace it. However, I have exactly zero dollars to spend on a new lamp. And I don't steal. So, my options are pretty slim. And none. None options. But! I have an active imagination and too much time on my hands AND a glue gun. Plus I had all of these things:

I cut apart that old lamp shade and used the bottom ring. I smooshed it into an oval shape and stitched some fabric around it. I borrowed some wire from the garage for the bottom oval. Stitched the fabric to it, and slipped it all on top of the old lamp's original shade. It just rests there. To cover up my goofy stitching, I glued some red ribbon around the top, bottom and inside bottom of the new shade. Then I pulled some loose stitches up through to give it a little rouching.

It's not what I would go for if I had, say, $500 for my nationwide lamp search, but it works for today.

frugal living tip #3 ~ better than cheap

What's better than clearance? Better than bargain? Better than bottom dollar?

Free.

Free is always better.

My favorite things to decorate with, especially in autumn, are ditch weeds. As in, weeds I pick out of the ditch. I dry them out just a bit, mostly to make sure the bugs have fled, and then poke them in wreaths, vases, my flower boxes, pumpkins....whatever suits my fancy.


The colors are perfect, and the price cannot be beat.






(It's best to bring along a{n almost} four year old, armed with his Swiss army knife. And don't be afraid to make him walk towards them first. He won't flinch if you should scare up a ruffed grouse.)

frugal living tip #2: the weekly dinner plan

A few years ago, I REALLY tightened the grocery belt. It was amazingly easy, and totally saved money. For whatever reason, I loosed the belt, and fell off the frugal wagon.

I managed to grasp hold of the back side of the frugal wagon last week, and am hoping to propel myself to the front of the frugal wagon right away. I'll be dressed as Laura Ingalls Wilder. My husband, will be Manly. (Because he is really manly.) Our children will be riding in the covered portion of the wagon. Our wagon will not tip over and catch fire, because Mary will not be with us--wearing her glasses, and we will remain on a road free of bumps.

Still with me?

*cough*

My plan is to re-implement my weekly dinner plan. The only rule with this dinner plan is that my Manly is not allowed to complain about what I feed him. He is only allowed to make complimentary remarks about the deliciousness of each dish. When he gets a case of the crankies, I will impress him with all the details of my fantastic frugality. I will bring up our budget and show him just how much I am saving. He may then lift me in the air and twirl me around and around and tell me how much happiness I bring to him. (It's something he does all the time anyway....it's totally in his character. A blessed man is he.)

Wow. My blood sugar must be off today or something.

To the weekly dinner plan:

Monday- every Monday is breakfast for dinner night. Eggs. Toast. Sausage. And sometimes Pancakes. (This is the kid's favorite night.)

Tuesday - every Tuesday is meat and rice or potato and veggie night. Chicken, beef, pork...whatever's on sale. (Make enough meat to save for Thursday.)

Wednesday - every Wednesday is pizza night. Either homemade, or frozen. It depends on my level of June Cleaver-ness for that given day.

Thursday - each Thursday, the left over meat from Tuesday is combined with veggies to make a soup or stew, served with from-scratch-biscuits...regardless of the level of June Cleaver-ness. Biscuits are too easy not to go through the extra effort.

Friday - every Friday is pasta night. Spaghetti, hot dish, what-have-you. This must be made using only ingredients on hand. Sometimes this tastes great. Sometimes this is horrible. Either way, everyone ends up full. Especially if you can crank out a few bread sticks or some garlic toast as accompaniment.

The weekends are freebies. We'll usually treat ourselves to a dinner out at least once, and often throw in an extra pizza, since everyone likes pizza.

Lunches are usually either leftovers, or sandwiches. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

If you are looking to trim the fat from your grocery budget, I highly recommend this method. You'll always know what's for dinner. Even the pickiest of Manly's can be won over when they see the dollars saved.

frugal living tip #1: Rice

One of my favorite ways to extend the serving capacity of a dish is to add rice to it. Brown rice. Full of fiber. (I'm loving me some fiber these days.)

I stumbled upon this "trick" a few years ago, when I first ventured into the land of stay-home-mothering. Having not gone grocery shopping for days, and needing something to feed to dinner guests that evening, I shopped through the cupboards looking for anything that would prevent a shopping trip. (A game I like to challenge myself with far too often. Sometimes it results in new favorite meals....sometimes not.....sometimes it results in new least favorites.)

I had one pound of hamburger, some spaghetti sauce, a million noodles, and enough flour etc. to make a loaf of bread. Spaghetti and meatballs with bread. Perfect! Knowing that the noodles and sauce would be sufficient, but that the meat would not, I had to come up with a way to stretch out that hamburger, or go to the store. (and lose the game? NEVER!)

I have a good meatball recipe, and knew that adding the bread crumbs would stretch it a little. Then it struck me....I could add some rice to bulk up the mix. Could it work? Why not! So I cooked up some brown rice, mixed nearly equal parts rice and hamburger to bread crumbs, eggs, a splash of milk and some seasoning. I let them simmer in the crock pot with some spaghetti sauce all afternoon, and they were great! And MORE than enough for us plus guests. AND! I didn't end up running to the store.

Grocery store: 0 Me: 1 (what can I say? I'm just a winner by nature.)

From that point on, I've been using {brown} rice to extend all kinds of meals. I usually cook up several servings at a time, divide up random portions in freezer bags to be used as needed. Rice is great with chicken, in almost all soups, mixed in a meatloaf or burgers on the grill. And rice is not expensive. At all. It's a great way to sneak in fiber, as long as you're using brown....which tastes great, make the switch today.

So my tip for today, is to add brown rice to everything you make.

Wait. Not everything. Not cookies or cakes or coffee....use discretion. And if you come up with a new favorite dish, please, let me know. I'm always looking for new favorites.