Shepherd's Pie

I sometimes forget that we like Shepherd's Pie.  It's one of those dishes that I plan for once every two or three months, but should appear more often.  I made it tonight and the girls ate 2 helpings each.  Even Little Man, who doesn't typically care for casserole type dishes, ate it if I agreed to feed it to him (and pick out the peas).  Hubby had to restrain himself by only taking a small portion, so some would be left for lunches tomorrow.

I don't have a particular recipe.  It's one of those "clean out the fridge" kind of dishes.  But here's what I used tonight.

4 potatoes, peeled
2 Tbsp. oil
3-4 carrots, peeled and finely diced
2 stalks celery, finely diced
1/2 a medium onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup diced green pepper (I have some already diced in my freezer, I just dumped some in)
1 pound ground beef
2 cloves of garlic (I use the already minced kind-about 2 Tbsp.)
1 1/2 cups tomato juice (or 1 can tomato sauce if you have that)
seasoning to taste (I added salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and a few dashes of chili powder)
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 Tbsp. butter
Milk if needed
Shredded cheddar cheese, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Rough chop the peeled potatoes and place in a large glass bowl.  Fill with water until potatoes are covered.  Add salt if desired.  Place in microwave and cook until potatoes are tender (for me, that's 25 minutes).

While the potatoes are cooking, heat oil and add the carrots, celery, onion, and green pepper.  Stir frequently until the veggies start to soften.  Add the ground beef and garlic.  Stir together and break up the meat so it is mostly smaller bites (I have one of those handy dandy Pampered Chef star chopper things that works great.  A spoon work too! :) ).  When the meat is done and the veggies are cooked, add the tomato juice, desired seasonings, corn and peas.  Continue to simmer for 10 to 20 minutes allowing some of the tomato juice to evaporate and the corn and peas to cook.  If you use tomato sauce, you probably won't need to simmer as long.

By this time, the potatoes should be done.  They can be drained and mashed, adding the butter and milk if needed.  Set aside.

Pour the meat/veggie mixture into a medium sized baking dish.  I used a 9 inch deep dish pie plate.  A 9 x 9 baking dish would also work well.  Spread the meat out evenly into the pan.  Top with mashed potatoes and spread them over the meat getting as close to the edges as possible.  Top with cheddar cheese.  Place in the oven for 20 minutes.  Upon removal, allow the dish to sit and rest at least 5 minutes before serving.

Linked up at Hearth and Soul Blog Hop-Penniless Parenting

Weeks 42 & 43 Crawling out from under my rock

Last week, I asked for suggestions for what to do.  Michelle suggested looking at my recycling habits.  Initially I shrugged that off since our town has single sort recycling that is picked up weekly.  Then I started looking closer.  While there are drop points for glass recycling, it isn't part of the single sort pick up.  We have to make a trip to drop the glass off, so we don't do it regularly.  We don't have a good reason for not doing it at least weekly since one of the drop sites is in the parking lot next to where the kids go to school-it's not like we aren't there 6 days a week (also our church).

I went through the cabinets and collected these,  plus a few others that I found in the dish drainer.

So, at this point I think I'm all good... then I went to grab a Wal-Mart bag (general name for plastic shopping bags) and a sense of realization smacked me in the head and called me a hypocrit.  One of the most simple things to do to "be green" and I don't do it often enough.  I don't bring my own bags when I do my shopping (hanging head and waiting for 50 lashes).  I have several cloth bags and I take them to Aldi with me, but not to other stores.  I can even get $.05 off for each bag I use at a couple of our stores.  Yet, I can't seem to remember to do it. 

Consequently, I have probably close to a hundred Wal-Mart bags hanging in my stairwell in one of those hideous bag sleeves that my Grandma made (sorry Grandma, they aren't very attractive). I made it a point all of last week to collect any plastic bag that I used and put it in one big bag to collect. I was astounded and embarrassed. It is jam packed full (bursting at the seams).

I have felt like I do a pretty good job of recycling, but this past week showed me how wrong I was. I will take my giant bag of bags to be recycled at Wal-Mart or maybe Target, and I WILL remember to bring my own bags with me from here on out.

Well, since I already hanging my head in shame, I might as well tack on week 43.  My grocery budget has become a nightmare.  Prices are increasing, summer produce is dwindling or already gone, and we have been eating out too much (like once every other week, but at $30 a pop, it will take a hit to the budget).  Our budget, in general-not just food, is so out of control that this month we have to make double payments on 3 bills because we spent the money needed to pay them.  Granted, not everything we bought was dumb, but it certainly wasn't planned for and if we are to continue to work on whittling down our debt and trying to eat better, we need to get our act in gear.

For the first time in a long time, I went to cash only for all extra expenses (monthly bills not included).  My Azure Standard order was $200 this month, so that leaves $300 for the rest of the month-theoretically.  However, since we are making double payments on some of our bills, that amount was cut.  I got $125 on November 1st and will get $150 on November 15th.

Immediately the amount from the first was cut by $25 because there was a doctor copay that wasn't budgeted.  So with $100 for two weeks, it has been pretty tight.  With the Azure Standard order and the other items I buy in bulk, we certainly aren't in danger of starving, but I'm having to get creative in coming up with ideas that use either ground beef or chicken, as those are the only cuts of meat we have on hand.  We are having a lot of bean based soups and vegetarian meals like breakfast for dinner or tortellini alfredo (not uber cheap, but it was tasty).

Tomorrow I will try to get my meal plan posted (did I mention I didn't do those for a month or so and that started the disintegration of my food budget-some people never learn!).  I think I will go $5 over budget to pick up some ham.  It won't be nitrate free, but this week I can't afford the super expensive stuff.  And, if this is the first lunch meat we've eaten that has sodium nitrate in several months, surely we're better off than the fellow that eats it every day.  At least that's what I'm telling myself.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

Creamy chicken enchiladas with homemade Spanish
rice and a dallop of sour cream.  Yum!

I love Mexican food.  Seriously, I could probably eat Mexican for all three meals for weeks on end, but I don't do that for a couple of reasons.  Too much tomato doesn't agree with Hubby's digestive system and Little Man detests food that is mixed together.  If I separate the ingredients on his plate, it looks like he's eating the same thing every night and he would only be willing to do that for 2 or 3 days tops.  To feed my love for Mexican and overcome the above mentioned obstacles, I'm always on the look out for new recipes... and I found one.  This recipe was found in an All You magazine.  It is from Campbells, so there is the obligatory can of "cream" soup-unless you are me and make your own.  Here is my take on this yummy chicken recipe.

2 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. flour

1/2 cup milk (can sub. the milk for chicken broth if desired)

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup  salsa

2 teaspoons chili powder

2 cups chopped cooked chicken 

3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided

8 flour tortillas (6-inch), warmed (I made these using my tortilla recipe.)

1 small tomato, chopped (about 1/2 cup), optional

1 green onion, sliced (about 2 tablespoons), optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter.  Stir the flour into the butter and let cook a few minutes.  Whisk in milk and broth and bring to a boil.  The mixture will thicken.  Remove from the heat and give it a few minutes to cool.  Stir in the sour cream, salsa, and chili powder.  In a mixing bowl combine 1 cup of the soup mixture, chicken and 1/2 cup of the cheese.  Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with Pam or some other spray and pour 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the soup mixture in the bottom.  Shake the pan around until most of the bottom of the pan is covered with soup.

Next a tortilla and spoon some of the chicken mixture down the center of the tortilla and roll it up.  Place it seam side down in the baking dish.  Continue doing this with the remaining tortillas trying to divide the chicken mixture equally among the tortillas.  Once all the tortillas have been filled and placed in the pan, cover them with the remaining soup mixture.  Cover the dish with foil or glass lid and bake 40 minutes.  Remove from the oven and sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of cheese over the top.  Place back in the oven to melt the cheese.  Take the enchiladas out and let rest for 5 minutes.  Top with chopped tomato and green onion if desired.

I was a little skeptical with the cream soup base, but these were awesome!  Everyone had seconds and I had to hold them back so they didn't take the rest as I needed leftovers for the next day's lunches.

Linked at Penniless Parenting's Hearth and Soul Blog Hop

Sorry about the funky indent.  I couldn't fix it and gave up!

Week 42: Needing suggestions

Help!  I am brain dead and can't think of what needs to be changed this week.  I'm taking suggestions in the comments section.  Thanks. :)

Week 41: Winterizing the home

There's a saying in Missouri that goes, "if you don't like the weather, give it 5 minutes and it will change." 

Yeah.  It's the truth.  Really.

Last Friday night, the girls and I went through the "winter" box of clothes and pulled out what fit, made a sale pile for the "I'm never, ever wearing that in a million years," and put away the summer stuff (no more flip flops girls!).  The weather had turned cooler and while they could still get away with wearing capris, jeans would work and I hate not being prepared.

Fast forward to Sunday.  It was near 90 degrees and the girls had to get back into the "summer" box to dig out shorts and those flip flops.

Today is Wednesday.  It is 47 degrees according to my thermometer.  The girls wore winter coats to school today.  Amazingly, they didn't complain.  They were that cold.

Keeping in line with my earlier change of trying to reduce our electricity usage, I'm also trying to cut our natural gas usage (furnace) too.  I turned off the AC in mid August and I'm trying my hardest not to turn on the furnace until November 1st.  I have 12 days (hopefully more).

It is winterizing time.  Last year was the first time that I made a conscious effort to lower our winter utility bill.  We dropped the temperature to 65 degrees during the day.  I kept all of the doors upstairs closed.  We used blankets, wore layers and slippers and all that stuff.  I tried to do my baking early in the morning to warm up the house.  We slept on fleece blankets and covered with them (and quilts, comforters and everything else) as well. 

The question is how can we improve on our efforts this winter.  The first thing I'm going to work on is draft guards for the front door and downstairs basement door.  Both doors have gaps that you can see through.  The weather stripping that we've tried in the past has prevented the door from latching and the only thing worse that a door that you can see daylight around is a door that is standing open because the wind blew it open.  My challenge is that the gaps are between the door latch and the top of the door.  I'm going to have to fashion something that goes all the way around.  I'm sure it will be lovely.  Uhh, not really.  I don't need lovely.  I need functional so we'll see how that works.

The other area that needs work are the windows.  We have new double pane windows, but the air around the window always seems to be so cold.  I'm making Hubby put the shrink wrap on the bedroom and living room windows to see if it helps.  It's only a $10 investment.  If it doesn't work, that's not too much money lost.  Hubby thinks I'm crazy.  He says that was the point of buying new windows.  I don't know though.  It couldn't hurt.

Other suggestions are both welcomed and appreciated!

Week 40: Preserve, preserve, preserve!

Well, last week (and half of this week) flew by and I didn't even get one post in!  It's that time of year... fall!  I love fall--the cool weather, leaves changing color, switching out our summer duds for warmer winter ones.  Of course, the frugalista in me is loving not having to use our AC or heat.  Woo-hoo for cheap utilities.  Fall is also the time when I do a lot of our favorite foods are ripe and need to be preserved.  I spent my time last week roasting, pureeing, labeling, freezing, and other sorts of prepping activities.

Here's what I preserved/am preserving for winter...

10 pounds of tomatoes-sliced, seeded and frozen-ready to be chopped for chili or blended for juice in a veggie or taco soup.  If I can find a good deal on Romas, I'll probably do another 10 pounds.

Green Peppers-We have four green pepper plants that started producing a couple weeks ago.  So, I washed, seeded, and chopped 8 green peppers-not a lot, but we don't eat a lot.  I flash froze them and have them stored in a quart canning jar so I can pop open the freezer and dump the amount I need directly into my bowl, skillet or whatever.  I hope to have a few more peppers, but it looks like we might get frost in the next couple of days, so we'll see.

7 pumpkins-I haven't frozen pumpkin ahead in past years.  I usually just cooked one and made a couple loaves of pumpkin bread and called it a year.  Well, since I ditched canned goods earlier this year and had no plan of purchasing an can of pumpkin if I decided that I needed some, I set out in search of pie pumpkins.  Amazingly enough, a local grocery store had organic pie pumpkins for $1.29 each!  The cheapest I had previously seen them was $.78/pound and they weren't organic.  I snatched up 2 immediately (and a butternut squash) and roasted them.  One pumpkin made the equivalent of 3 loaves of pumpkin bread and everyone gobbled it up.  It was obvious that I needed more.  I called Hubby who was on his way home from work and requested that he drop by and pick a few more up.  He bought 5.  Now I have enough pumpkin for 21 loaves of pumpkin bread-certainly enough for a whole year.

50 pounds of pears-Just when I finished the pumpkins up, one of my daycare grandmas brought me a HUGE box of pears, a little over 50 pounds (yeah, I weighed it)!  Right now, they are on my deck ripening because they just aren't quite ready.  I processed them too soon last year and still have a few jars of crunchy pears! LOL  Hopefully in the next couple of days they will be turned into pear butter, pearsauce, canned pears and I'm going to try freezing some for pear crisp.  That's an experiment, we'll have to see how that works out!

40 pounds of apples-These haven't arrived yet, but they are on my Azure Standard order.  I'll make the standard applesauce, apple butter and sliced apples for future bowls of oatmeal or slices of pie, but I might also try my hand at making jelly and/or juice.  Oh, and I'm sure we'll save some for eating as well. ;)

So, that's it so far.  What foods do you preserve?  What's your favorite method... canning?  freezing? dehydrating?  I'd love to hear about it.

Week 39: Sam's Club

I've been a member of Sam's Club for nearly 20 years (Wow, now I feel old!).  My parents added me to their membership when I left for college because I would drive through a town where Sam's was and frequently Mom would want me to pick up this or that.  In my 20's, I shopped there more for myself and found that I bought numerous items, many of which I didn't need.

Today, I still make a once a month trip to Sam's.  However, I'm finding that I buy less and less there.  Where at one time I would have my cart loaded down, now I buy the same two dozen items in alternating months.  I buy Finish dishwasher tabs, Oxy Clean powder, nuts, spices, maple syrup, milk, cheese and frozen veggies and fruits.  This last time I also picked up a few packages of medicine (Benadryl, Tylenol, Prilosec-except Sam's brand).  I no longer buy the paper goods, chips, bread, fruit, etc. that made Sam's prices such a good buy.

Last Friday, I picked up my first order from Azure Standard.  I got coconut oil, GMO free canola oil, coconut, walnuts, vanilla beans, salt, carrots, potatoes, and oranges.  Most importantly, I got a catalog.  Going through it, I found that I can get most everything I can get from Sam's and it's only slightly higher priced, and much of it is organic, which Sam's is not.  Over the next month or two, I plan to phase out Sam's completely and order my bulk items through Azure Standard.  I will pay a little more in up front cost, but I don't have to drive 40 minutes to Sam's and spend 2 hours walking the aisles.  With Azure Standard, I can order online and just go to the drop site and pick up my boxes of already packaged items.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about my Finish tabs or Oxy-Clean yet, but I think I might just ask Mom to pick me up some when she goes for her big trips and I'll pay her back.  That seems the easiest.

So far, I'm really impressed with the products I got from Azure Standard.  So much so that I think I'll try to do the bulk of my shopping from there and fill in with dairy and eggs from a local farm.  I'm sure that toward the end of the month I'll need fresh produce, but I'm thinking that this might be the best way to stay within my budget.  It keeps getting harder and harder to do that.