It's Cyber Monday!

I don't know about you but the busier my life becomes the more I find myself shopping online for gifts for family and friends. I also buy mood setters like Christmas music and decorations for myself as well. Christianbook.com is one of my "go to" websites and I recommend it highly for price and quality. Check them out this Cyber Monday.

Disclosure: I am an affiliate and when you click on the links below and buy products at this website I may be compensated.

Click graphic to reach the Christmas page

My 4 children enjoyed playing with Duplo and Lego building blocks when they were growing up and now my grandchildren love them, too! CBD carries many of these popular sets. Here are just a few that some of the kiddos in your life might enjoy:

LEGO Creator Power Digger By LEGO There's more to this digger than meets the eye! The LEGO Creator Power Digger is a 3 in one Lego set! Pick up any load and shovel deep holes with the powerful arm. Operate the rotating cab to work from any angle and open the engine compartment to carry out essential repairs. It even rebuilds into a dump truck or a front loader! The Power Digger features a working, flexible crane arm, rotating vehicle body, see-through cab window, chunky tires, warning light on the roof of the cab, opening engine section and a high visibility color scheme. The LEGO Creator Power Digger has a total of 64 pieces, and is designed for ages 6 - 12 years old.

LEGO Creator Family House By LEGO Settle into sleek and modern LEGO style in the 3 in 1 Family House! Fire up the grill for a backyard barbeque by the pond and play with the toy car. Open the garage door to take the car out for a spin! When the sun goes down head indoors to switch on the functioning light and curl up by the fireplace in the cozy living room. Rebuild into an industrial factory with delivery van and a surveillance camera or a slick Mediterranean villa with swimming pool and double patio doors using the supplied alternate building instructions. The LEGO® Creator Family House also includes a hanging lamp, garage with opening door, a small pond, trees, a yellow car, bed tables, arm chairs and so much more! LEGO Creator Family House has a total of 756 pieces, and is recommended for 8 - 12 year olds.

LEGO City Camper Van By LEGO Prepare for exciting outdoor adventures with the cool LEGO City Camper Van! Find the perfect riverside spot, offload the canoe from the roof and put on the life vests. Then push off into the water for an exciting day of exploration, before returning for a good night's sleep in the spacious Camper Van when the sun goes down. LEGO City Camper Van includes 2 adventurer mini figures. Camper Features opening doors, a canoe stored on the roof, roof compartments and lots of extra space. There are also 2 oars, 2 life vests and 2 coffee mugs to go with the Camper Van and canoe. The LEGO City Camper Van has a total of 195 pieces, and is designed for ages 5 - 12 years old.

WARNING: Small parts, not for small children.

LEGO City Race Car By LEGO Take on any racer with the super-speedy Race Car! Set the spoiler, blast away from the grid and race through extremely twisty corners. Finish the race ahead of the pack and lift the big winner's trophy! LEGO City Race Car includes a racecar driver with a racing helmet. It features adjustable spoiler and never-before-seen racing wheels for the buildable car, and a big winner's trophy. LEGO City Race car has a total of 100 pieces, and is designed for ages 5 - 12 years old.

WARNING: Small parts, not for small children.

LEGO Friends Sunshine Ranch By LEGO Time for some horseback riding fun with Mia down at the LEGO Friends Sunshine Ranch. Wake her up in the cozy apartment and make breakfast in the kitchen. Have her eat breakfast and take her downstairs to take care of the horses. This is where the fun really starts. Look after the foal and groom her, then go out riding with her friend Liza. There's a world of great adventures waiting for these best of friends.

Set includes

• Ranch animals: 2 horses, a foal, 2 bunnies, a cat and a hen
• Buildable ranch and apartment
• Building features: stables, outdoor seating area, toilet and bathroom, bedroom and a kitchen
• Accessories: egg, wheelbarrow, carrots and horse grooming tools

LEGO Friends Sunshine Ranch has a total of 721 pieces and is designed for ages 6 - 12 years old.

LEGO DUPLO Baby Zoo By LEGO Little ones will love the LEGO DUPLO Baby Zoo set! The friendly zoo keeper has lots to do as she nurses the young animals at the Baby Zoo. Learn all about the different animals by helping the zoo keeper take good care of these adorable baby animals!

LEGO DUPLO Baby Zoo is not only fun for little ones to play with, but it works on their fine motor skills, early logic and reasoning, as well as their creativity.
Baby Zoo includes:

• 4 Baby animals: a giraffe, polar bear, elephant and lion.
• One Zoo Keeper
• Total of 18 DUPLO bricks and play pieces

The LEGO DUPLO Baby Zoo is designed for ages 2-5 years old.

LEGO DUPLO My First Garden By LEGO It's a sunny day in the country side, perfect for growing lots of building fun in the LEGO DUPLO My First Garden set. While the goat and pony graze in the fields, the boy tends to his vegetables. Pick the ripe apples! Tend the garden with the pitchfork but be sure to build the fence to keep the hungry goat and pony away from the fruit! Includes boy LEGO DUPLO figure.

LEGO DUPLO My First Garden is not only fun for little ones to play with, but it works on their fine motor skills, early logic and reasoning, as well as their creativity
The LEGO DUPLO My First Garden includes:

• 1 Boy LEGO DUPLO  figure
• DUPLO base plate
• House with window and fence
• Accessories include: pitchfork, flowers apple tree with apple-decorated DUPLO brick and assorted DUPLO bricks.
• 2 Animals: Boat and Pony
• Total of 38 DUPLO bricks and pieces

LEGO DUPLO My First Garden is designed for 18 months- 5 years old.

LEGO  DUPLO  Creative Cars By LEGO Zoom around town with the LEGO DUPLO Creative Cars set featuring over 40 colorful, vehicle-themed DUPLO bricks to build and rebuild the coolest cars! With the special Combine & Create concept, your child can create vehicles of all shapes and sizes by combining just a few colorful bricks. This great set includes 3 wagon bases, decorated window, traffic and gas station logo bricks, a hose, engine, crane, truck body, spoiler elements and other assorted bricks. A colorful building inspiration poster is also included. Set includes a total of 40 pieces

The LEGO DUPLO Creative Cars set is not only fun for little ones to play with, but it works on their fine motor skills, early logic and reasoning, as well as their creativity. Creative Cars is designed for 18 months- 3 years old.

LEGO  DUPLO  My First Zoo By LEGO With LEGO DUPLO My First Zoo, it's another fun day at the zoo. With four cute animals, including a baby elephant, tiger, polar bear and giraffe, there's always something for the friendly zoo keeper to do, like feeding the animals. DUPLO bricks, figures and animals are colorful, safe and sturdy for little hands an big imaginations.

LEGO DUPLO My First Zoo is not only fun for little ones to play with, but it works on their fine motor skills, early logic and reasoning, as well as their creativity.
My First Zoo includes:

• 1 DUPLO figure zoo keeper
• 4 Animals: bay elephant, tiger, polar bear and giraffe
• Features Zoo Keeper Vehicle
• Set has a total of 60 LEGO DUPLO bricks and pieces

My First Zoo is recommended for ages 2-5 years old.

LEGO  DUPLO  Toddler Build and Play By LEGO Help your young child to explore, play and create with the all -new Toddler Build and Play Cubes! These extra-large LEGO DUPLO bricks are the perfect introduction to creative building for toddlers. This collection of 17 easy-to-handle bricks and elements in bright vibrant colors include 3 window cubes, a cute bear and assorted decorated bricks that are fully compatible with standard DUPLO bricks and elements. The box lid also doubles as a handy building plate.

The LEGO DUPLO Toddler Build and Play Cubes Set is not only fun for little ones to play with, but it works on their fine motor skills, early logic and reasoning, as well as their creativity
The LEGO DUPLO Toddler Build and Play Cubes Set comes with:

• 3 Window cubes
• Darling Bear
• Assorted decorated bricks
• Durable storage container
• Set has a total of 17 brilliantly colored DUPLO bricks and pieces.

The LEGO DUPLO Toddler Build and Play Cubes set is designed for 18 months-3 years old.

LEGO  DUPLO  Farm Animals By LEGO Teach your child all about the world of friendly Farm Animals with this fun LEGO DUPLO set. They will love recreating the noises that the sheep, rabbit, goat and pig make in real life and will enjoy building the shelter made of colorful DUPLO bricks. There's even a big flower for the animals to sniff and nibble on. Set has a total of 12 DUPLO bricks and pieces.

The LEGO DUPLO Farm Animals set is not only fun for little ones to play with, but it works on their fine motor skills, early logic and reasoning, as well as their creativity. Farm Animals set is designed for ages 2-5 years old.

LEGO  DUPLO  School Bus By LEGO All aboard the LEGO DUPLO School Bus! Build a bus shelter where the 2 children can check the timetable and wait for the bus to arrive. Help the bus driver stop at the traffic lights and drive to the shelter to pick up the children. Then head off for a busy day at school. Young children will love to build and rebuild this great model with big, brightly colored LEGO DUPLO bricks. Includes a bus driver and 2 child DUPLO figures.

LEGO DUPLO School Bus set is not only fun for little ones to play with, but it works on their fine motor skills, early logic and reasoning, as well as their creativity.
LEGO DUPLO School Bus set includes:

• Buildable school bus, bush shelter and traffic light (can be used to teach your child about traffic signals)
• Bus driver, and 2 children
• Accessories: 2 briefcases, a flower, extra bricks to help with storytelling

LEGO DUPLO School Bus is designed for ages 2- 5 years old.

Homemade Yogurt and Blueberry Sauce

There has been a lot of activity in our kitchen lately! Some of it has to do with the recent remodeling projects. (That's another post for another day.) Some of it has been experimenting with a simple way to make yogurt.

"Why?" you ask.

Two reasons:

1. We spend wa-a-a-a-ay too much money on yogurt at the grocery store. (The Bear and I can easily put away 3 cartons a day. Even with coupons and sales we spend at least $2.50 a day or $17.50 a week since he eats 2 cartons of Greek style and I eat at least 1 of whatever style we have available.
2. Neither one of us needs the additional bovine growth hormone that I fear might be in some of the yogurt we consume. He is a man. I am a post-menopausal woman. Enough said. The only ways I know to avoid this hormone are to buy only organic - which would be wa-a-a-a-ay more expensive than what I'm spending now - and I don't want to spend a lot of money on yogurt (see #1 above); or make it myself using non-hormone injected cow's milk. Uh, I choose the latter option.

After a bit of experimentation I have come upon a nice method for making it using equipment and supplies I already had on hand, unless you count the cheese cloth that I bought because I was out of it. Oh, and 1 carton of organic plain yogurt as my starter. (Bought on sale and with a coupon.)

My equipment: a large dutch oven for heating the milk and a pressure cooker/canner for incubating a batch. Also, 2 quart-size mason jars with lids, a funnel, a wooden spoon, cheesecloth, and a candy thermometer.

Steps for making yogurt:

• Pour 8 cups of milk into dutch oven. (That's 1/2 gallon of milk. No matter what price you pay for your milk this method will be a whole lot cheaper than buying 8 cups of yogurt!)
• Heat your milk to 180 degrees while stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Use a meat or candy thermometer for accurate measurement. My candy thermometer does a great job helping me make yogurt but it has never helped me make good candy! My holiday fudge always turns into a disaster. Or a nice fudge sauce. Depends on how you market your product. Which is why one of our family traditions includes celebrating Christmas with hot fudge sundaes. :)
• After the milk has reached the desired temperature it needs to be taken off the burner and allowed to cool until it reaches 110 degrees. If you let it sit too long just put it back on the heat until it reaches the desired 110 degree temperature.
• Stir 1/4 cup of cultured organic yogurt into your warm milk. I always use a wooden spoon when making ANYTHING that uses a starter (sourdough bread, friendship bread, etc.). It is probably an unnecessary precaution since the milk is heated in a stainless steel pan, but I do it anyway because somewhere in the back of my mind is the thought that metal kills live cultures. Not sure why that thought is there. Anyway. . .
• Using a clean funnel, pour the warm cultured milk into 2 clean mason jars. Place lids on them. These lids can be reused for each batch because you will not be sealing them to the jars.

• Place the jars on the rack in the pressure cooker/canner. As you can see, my canner holds 5 quarts but that would be a bit too much yogurt, even for The Bear and me. Actually, it would be a bit too much for my refrigerator. Now that I know how to make this quickly 2 quarts at a time is plenty.

• Place water in the canner so that the level is about 1/2 way up the sides of the jars. Heat the water until it reaches 110 degrees. Then turn off the stove.
• Once the proper temperature is reached, put the lid on the pressure cooker but DO NOT add the pressure gauge. The idea is to keep the cultured milk incubating, not cooking!
• Open the pressure cooker every 2 or 3 hours to check on the temperature of the water. If it feels too cool turn the stove on "low" for a short time. DO NOT ALLOW THE WATER TEMPERATURE TO RISE TOO HIGH! If you do, it will kill your cultures. Ask me how I know.
• Go to bed. Really. I start my yogurt about mid-afternoon and I check the water temperature two or three times, the last time being right before I retire for the night.
• Wake up to 2 jars of fresh, creamy yogurt!
• I always take out 1/4 cup of cultured yogurt and place it in a separate container in the refrigerator before I do anything else. This is the starter for the next batch.

Strain some of your yogurt using cheese cloth to make Greek style. The Bear likes the thicker curds of this style of yogurt. I'm not particular. 

Use the milky liquid, the whey, that results from the straining in place of buttermilk in pancake or biscuit recipes. It makes them light and fluffy!

Stir spoonfuls of homemade jam and jelly into your individual yogurt servings. I use strawberry jam, peach jam, and apple jelly. Since The Bear and I are partial to blueberry flavored yogurt I make blueberry sauce and keep it in the refrigerator near the yogurt. (Recipe below!)

Blueberry Sauce

This blueberry sauce is adapted from the Blueberry Pie Deluxe recipe found in The Backyard Homestead by Carleen Madigan. (The whole pie is excellent, too!)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh or thawed blueberries
1/4 cup water
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Directions:
Combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan. Add the blueberries and water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture boils, thickens, and clears. Remove from heat. Stir in the butter and the lemon juice. Cool. Then refrigerate.

Place about 2 Tablespoons of the filling on top of your regular or Greek homemade yogurt. Delicious!

A Day in Lima

That's Lee-muh and not Lie-muh. I don't want you to think the pictures that follow are from a recent trip to northern Ohio. Nope! We crossed the Equator for the first time to make a visit to South America! We celebrated 35 years of marriage this past summer (at church camp) so we decided a special trip was in order.

In the early afternoon of October 15th Pastor Dad and I flew out of CVG and after a moderate layover in DFW caught a flight to Lima, Peru. We arrived there after midnight their time on the morning of the 16th which was after 1 a.m. at home where Daylight Savings Time was still in effect. It was well after 1 a.m. in Peru when we cleared customs and collected our baggage.

Our missionary friend, Sheridan Stanton, had arrived earlier in the day from his home in Huanaco. He had been able to rent a car, check into the hotel, and get a little rest before driving back to the airport to meet us. It was wonderful to see a familiar face waiting beyond the security barriers!

After a few hours of sleep we prepared to tour the city of Lima by daylight. (The post-midnight drive from the airport to the hotel didn't reveal much.) Daylight also revealed that we were staying near the Pacific Ocean.

The Pacific Ocean as seen from our hotel balcony

We drove to downtown Lima so that we could view the changing of the guard at the Presidential Palace at noon.

Just let me interject here that the drivers in Peru must be the worst anywhere. ANYWHERE! I mostly rode in silence because I was afraid that if I opened my mouth Bro. Stanton would be distracted. Believe me, we didn't want him distracted! 

Lanes? Ha! Want to turn left but you're 5 vehicles across (there are only 3 lanes) in the right-hand lane? Don't let that stop you! What's that you say? You're on a motorcycle and you'd need to cross in front of three cars and a double-decker bus? Oh, don't worry about it! They'll see you coming. You can bet your life on it!

(Nope! Not an exaggeration! Worst. Drivers. ANYWHERE! But Bro. Sheridan is an excellent driver. He even managed to return the rental car later that week without a scratch. And that's a miracle pure and simple! A miracle!)

We were told that the changing of the Peruvian Presidential guard isn't as grand as the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace but since we've never witnessed the latter ceremony we really have no way to make a comparison. We were impressed enough with this daily noontime ritual though. There were high kicks, ceremonial music, and plenty of pomp and circumstance. We spent several minutes enjoying the view of the rest of the Plaza de Armas, too.

Changing of the Guard

The Presidential Palace with the Changing of the Guards

Another side of the Plaza

The Archbishop's Palace next to the Cathedral of Lima, located to one side of the plaza

We two tourists on our 1st day in Peru, standing by the historic fountain in the center of the Plaza de Armas with the Presidential Palace behind us

The Cathedral of Lima

The Pastor and the Missionary/"Tour Guide," Brother Stanton

Nearby was the Inquisition Museum. Given that Catholicism is the religion of the country it was a bit surprising to find a museum dedicated to remembering her days of persecution of non-conformists. Also somewhat surprising was the way the history has been revised to make it seem as though just a mere handful were actually tortured and killed. (Here is a link telling about the museum. When you visit that site you will understand why I did not take more pictures.)

This museum is a reminder to us of what it cost some of our forebears for holding to their faith. Let us not forget that there are still many Christians around the world who are enduring persecution. As Jesus warned His disciples, His followers might be put to death by those who think they are actually doing God a big favor. (My paraphrase.)

A model of an infidel

A portrait of the Lima Plaza de Armas showing those convicted of crimes against the Church being led to their deaths

The steps down to the dungeons. Even now there are places were a person could lose their head, or knock herself out, if she is not careful! (The ceilings are extremely low in places and made of jagged rock. )

A couple of dungeon cells. People died inside here, which may have been better than the alternatives!

One part of the Inquisition Museum that is actually very beautiful: the courtyard.

After leaving the downtown Lima area we drove down the coast to an oceanside shopping mall at Miraflores. Enough time had passed since we had left the Inquisition Museum that we had regained our appetites. (And by now I was so tired that I closed my eyes part of the way and totally avoided seeing how close we were to the other vehicles we were trying NOT to hit a la "Bumper Cars" carnival ride.) We had the Executive Lunch at Tony Roma's! Since our Cincinnati restaurant closed a few years ago we now must go a long way to get a taste of these ribs.

Good food. Good prices (in sols; at the time $1 USA = s/.2.75)

The view from the shopping center at Miraflores

A skydiver near the restaurant. Feel up to it after lunch? Yeah, right!

Busy 24 hours + full stomachs = 2 tired tourists

Looking for the Starbucks. Or was it the Italian ice cream? Well, we found the Starbucks but not the ice cream. Since it was nippy outside the warm brew tasted and felt good.

Back to the hotel. The statue of Mary in the Magdalena del Mar neighborhood taken from our hotel window. If she still rotated as she used to do she would look directly into the hotel rooms! Hmm.

Got Wrinkles? Meet Downy Wrinkle Releaser!

Ironing not your thing? Mine either! And yet there are so many clothes that pass through our laundry each week that demand more attention than what the permanent press cycle on the clothes dryer can give them. 

Or maybe the damp towel tossed in with a second go-around. 

Or even what the steam can do when the item is hung in a steamy bathroom while the person who plans to wear it showers.

Oh, yeah. I know a lot of tricks for getting out wrinkles. Let me tell you about my favorite one:

Downy Wrinkle Releaser

I was introduced to this product earlier this summer by an independent marketing group. Really. I had never heard of it before.

I then participated in a 2-part product and packaging test. To say that this product has saved our family time and trouble would be an understatement. 

All three of the occupants of this house know how to wash and dry our khakis and dress clothes but none of us seems to know how to get those same clothes onto hangers immediately after the dryer stops. We could buy a new dryer that comes with a buzzer. Or we could continue to use Downy Wrinkle Releaser. 

Uh, we opt for the latter. Less expensive, and yet it works just as well. There's absolutely no guarantee that we would hang up the clothes immediately after the buzzer sounded anyway. Just being honest here. :)

Downy Wrinkle Releaser also comes in a travel size. I'll have the small bottle in my suitcase when I travel by air. I already know from my trip earlier this month that the full-size travels well by car. That was not part of the "official" trial, but it was my own personal one. Just as I thought, we either needed the in-room iron or we needed Downy Wrinkle Releaser. 

Let's just say that the iron in the motel room kept its cool. And so did we.

***I received remuneration in cash and product in exchange for my opinions during the test period. The idea to share some of my opinions here was purely my own decision.

Read Along With Me...And a Few Hundred Other Women

You might have noticed the button on my left sidebar for the Women's Bible Cafe (scroll down a bit). If you visit their website you might find an online Bible study group in which you wish to participate or links to help you in your walk with the Lord.

Now you will also find a link for a Book Club! The first month's selections have been posted and it isn't too late to participate. Actually, discussion does not even begin until May so you have time to obtain the books, take notes, and get ready for the website or Facebook discussion.

I've got my books and I'm ready to go!

And with keeping with that frugal gene that seems to be dominant in my DNA let me give you a few hints for getting the books inexpensively. I, for one, don't like to buy hard copies of a book unless I deem it a "keeper" that I must read again and mark up thoroughly. Even then, I might just highlight my Kindle copy excessively. :)

April Fiction 

This book is available for free at Paperbackswap (I just checked.)

It is available as a paperback for various prices at Amazon, depending on whether you want a new copy or not. They have it available as a Kindle book for $5.99.

It is available as an ebook at CBD for $5.99 and you can read it on your computer, Kindle Fire, iPod, etc.  They also have the paperback for $10.49, which is comparable to new at Amazon.

April Non-fiction 

This book is available in paperback at Amazon for various prices, again depending upon whether you desire a new copy. It is also available for the Kindle Fire and you can borrow it for F-R-E-E if you are a Prime member (which I am). Or you can buy it for your Kindle Fire for $8.54 if you wish. (There are also audiobook versions available.)

It is also available at CBD in paperback for $8.99 or ebook for $8.44. They also sell the DVD audiobook version.



As you can see, both books can be obtained for free if you would like to participate but you don't want to spend money or your library doesn't have a copy available for loan.

(**The pictures are courtesy of Amazon. I am NOT an Amazon affiliate and receive no compensation for encouraging the reading of these books.)

Buy. This. Game. NOW! Please?

At the beginning of this year I mentioned that my son-in-law has a new game in production. (See here if you wish to read the announcement from a mother-in-law's point of view.)

Well, he needs your help getting it produced. Unlike his other games, this one is a family style game. (His others are popular with serious gamers.)

So go on over here to read about the kickstarter. Then follow his links and help get this game into production. I REALLY want to play this one.

And thank you very much!  :)

Suede Parka Recycling

In my part of the world it is time to put away the coats and parkas in favor of short sleeves and swim suits. Unfortunately, my winter coat gave out on me before the winter season had ended - actually, the parka in question gave out before the winter season even began - but I couldn't bring myself to throw the suede garment away. I decided to recycle it.

The first several pieces were used by my Ohio History students to make reproduction maps. I wish I'd taken pictures of their efforts, but alas I did not so my poor representation will need to suffice.

We were studying French fur traders and the Native Americans at the time, so their maps showed waterways and trading posts and/or villages. That's Lake Erie shown at the top and a portion of the Ohio River at the bottom right. There are no land divisions shown other than the towns because this map represented the time prior to statehood. Since the students weren't little guys I allowed them to use permanent markers to draw physical features.

The students' maps used glued shell and wooden beads to mark settlements instead of the colored markers shown here. Then they each used a portion of the faux fur from my parka's hood, combined with bits of the coat's original belt, to tie their maps up into a roll. At the end of the year several of them mentioned that this was one of their favorite projects.

Map of Ohio Territory

I still had plenty of scrap suede even after the map activity so I set my hand to making a bolo jacket for the girls' Barbies from some of the smaller pieces.  Here is the doll that I borrowed (and which they never realized was absent from their stash).  She has since been returned, but I haven't given them the jacket yet.  It isn't gift quality, but I haven't found the right moment.

Barbie modeling her suede bolo jacket

And now it is summer and I'm still finding pieces of suede in my scrap stash. I decided to use part of it to decorate the strap of an inexpensive pair of flip-flops. 

I bought all of the craft items at Hobby Lobby today.  Being the frugal gal that I am, I am pleased to say that many of the notions were on sale.  There's a 40% off coupon at http://www.hobbylobby.com/ this week for the Vintaj charms shown.  The flip flops were also on sale.  The leather cord and beads were full price, but there is so much of each left over that I intend to make some jewelry, too.

Here's the finished product.  Well, okay.  Technically it's only half of the finished product since I have two feet, but once I got the first shoe finished I had to quit and get caught up on some housework.  Specifically, I needed to do our laundry.


I did mention that we had VBS last week, right?  Well, I had the foolish mistaken notion that I could keep up with my chores last week in spite of the additional time constraints. It wasn't to be.  (Just goes to show I must be an optimist in disguise!)  If I didn't stop and do some laundry today the residents of this house would be running around  - uh - unclothed.

Well, I supposes there might still be enough of the suede left to make primitive loin cloths for the guys and scant coverings for me.  Now there's a craft the pre-adolescents in my Ohio History class would really have rated highly! 

Pork Chops and Stuffing Recipe (Frugal Sunday 4/10/11)

Okay, it wasn't fair to put a picture of the main course here and then not put the recipe or the cost analysis. I'm about to correct that.

The original recipe was one that I discovered on an old computer recipe program that I had back in the '90s. Back in those days I didn't modify the recipe because my family liked it "as is." And then one day I came to the conclusion that I really didn't like it so I started experimenting. Here's my recipe for pork chops and stuffing. A doubled portion of chops is shown in the picture because I intended to feed 10 people.

You'll need the following:

4 or 5 porkchops
1 box of cornbread stuffing mix
1 can of creamed corn
brown sugar
Dijon mustard
water
chopped celery, and more chopped onion and/or spices to taste (optional)

Stuffing: Open the box and take out the packets of stuffing and herbs (they might be separate packages depending on brand). Mix these with the creamed corn and any additionals you wish to add. Spread these dry ingredients on the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. The stuffing box tells how much water to use. Measure the water and pour it over the stuffing mix in the pan.

Pork chops: Lay pork chops over the stuffing. Mix enough brown sugar with the Dijon mustard to make a glaze. The amount will depend upon the number of chops in the pan. I use a ratio of 3:1 of brown sugar to mustard for each pork chop. Usually this equates to 1 tablespoon of brown sugar to 1 teaspoon of mustard for each piece of meat. Slather the glaze generously over the chops.

Bake uncovered in an oven that has been preheated to 375 degrees. Check the meat after 45 minutes for doneness. There should be no pink. If they aren't completely cooked put them back in the oven and check every 5 minutes until they are done.



This is a tasty recipe. The pork juices soak into the stuffing and add just a bit of flavor and a touch of a crust to the cornbread. (In my opinion the original unmodified recipe resulted in a stuffing that was too dry and crunchy.) The glaze on the chops helps to seal in the moisture of the meat and yet add a tart-sweet flavor.

The bottom line for cost? Believe it or not, I know almost to the penny.

The meat is the expensive component (as always!) and I paid $13.78 for the ten big chops that were on sale last week. I used 2 boxes of Stove Top Stuffing that I bought on sale and combined with coupons several months ago. This made the name brand cheaper than the store brand (which is $1.59) because they cost me $1.29 each for a total of $2.58. The canned corn was $0.50 a few weeks ago. The cost of the brown sugar and mustard were negligible in such small portions. So $13.78 + 2.58 + 0.50 = $16.86. Divide this by 10 and the cost of the main entry was less than $1.70 per portion.

We had a couple of vegetable dishes and home made (scratch) rolls as sides. I made yellow cake with fudge icing for dessert. The meal came in well under my target of $2.50 per person and those who got to eat it here (Pastor Dad, The Bear and his buddies, and myself) plus our own Meals on Wheels delivery service (Princess and her family) seemed to enjoy it. The Bear was especially impressed by the fact that I'd made homemade rolls.

More eBooks for Me (and You!) to Enjoy

I'm really into eBooks and audiobooks as you can probably tell. :)

Free advertising for one of my favorite bookstores, otherwise known affectionately as CBD! I can't wait to download some of the Christian books I want to read that aren't available through my library, or the Ohio eBook Program, or even at Paperbackswap.com.

Maybe you're not interested in physically reading your books on a device. Well, they have audiobooks, too.

What? You don't like that either because you don't want someone to read aloud to you? You were a kid once, right? Okay, just checking.

Or you don't own a compatible device? Yeah, right. You're reading this message on something whether it be a computer, your phone, or an iPod.

Gotcha! :)

Okay, so you really don't want to read and/or listen to your books because you're old fashioned and like traditional paper and ink pages. Yessiree! Me, too! But reading books doesn't need to be either/or. It's like when the hostess has two desserts: cake and ice cream. You can have some of each. No one will mind.

And what about your kids?

Gotcha again!

Many kids and teenagers love, love, love having a book read to them and since teens' portable devices seem to be ever present they can be listening to some great literature or inspirational material while they do whatever else it is that teenagers do (around here that would be sleep, eat, and play video games on the computer when not being interrupted by a nagging mother who insists that chores and schoolwork be completed).

Reading good books has never been easier. And that's a great thing for all concerned.




* I am NOT a Christianbooks.com affiliate but I do highly recommend them for Christian books and homeschool curriculum.

An End to the Freezer Cleanout

We had not reached the bottom of the freezer when I decided to call a halt! to the proceedings. Oh, we're still eating out of our freezer, but the method that was being used to achieve the goal was not working fast enough. No matter how many meals I fixed it seemed as though we were making very little headway.

It's a very good problem to have. Can you imagine being so blessed with abundant stores of food that even after you've eaten two weeks worth of meals from the freezer's innards you're still pulling more and more and more out of it? There's a Bible lesson in there and our cup was obviously running over!

To get to the end of my cleaning task I utilized our cooler and the upstairs freezer to store all of the frozen meat and bread until the time that I had the chest freezer defrosted and sanitized. This worked well.

Then I took inventory. What I found amazed me! I still had enough meat to make 30 meals for Pastor Dad, The Bear, and me. If I hadn't sped things up a bit the Great Freezer Cleanout would not have been completed for another whole month!

It sure doesn't look like there's any food in this freezer!

Okay, maybe just a little bit of food is in there!

Why, yes!  There really is food in there.  And the contents really is enough to feed this family of three adults for a whole month!

I learned a lot from this. First, as mentioned, we are abundantly blessed!

Second, I can see that meat is really not one of the things that I need to be concerned about buying except when it comes to having enough of something to feed the gang on Sunday. Maybe I should think about replenishing the dismal supply of frozen fruits and vegetables instead.   :)  Just a thought.

Third, it is time to get busy cleaning my pantry shelves. Then I'll have an ideas of the recipes that can be made from combining the pantry items with those in the freezer.

Fourth, my grocery receipts from the last 3 weeks total $98.46! That's the combined total for three weeks not the total for any one week. These expenditures included basics like paper supplies, staples, supplemental items for three different Sunday meals, and some junk food for The Bear (who kept asking, "Really, Mom, when are you going to the store again?!!!!")

Overall, I'm pretty happy with all of this. Cleaning the freezers helped put our home economy into proper perspective. ^o-o^

Now, on to tackle the pantry shelves!

A Few Frugal Tips For Couponing & Grocery Shopping

I don't usually buy a Sunday paper. And I don't always shop with coupons. We won't go into all of the reasons why (I'm too lazy?) but we will look at a few ways that I coupon when I coupon.  And I'll throw in another hint at the end just for the fun of it. :)

It's true that we don't subscribe to the paper. We have in the past but found that it usually was recycled or composted unread. That's not a good value. However, if I happen to want a Sunday paper, I stop and buy one on the way home from church.

"Well, it looks like you're not much of an expert when it comes to couponing then," you say? Maybe not. Or maybe I've learned to maximize my time and effort. Here are a few tricks I use while living a frugal,lazy life.

1. Only buy the newspaper when there are coupon inserts. Here's one site that lists what and when.  No need to stop for a paper when no coupons are scheduled!
2. Start your own coupon swap between girlfriends, family, or church members. All it takes is one gullible, er, willing individual to keep the donations and to organize them into a usable fashion. In our family, it is my mom who passes her dissected coupon inserts down to me and my married daughters. We, in turn, share our own with each other before cutting everything out and passing on any we don't want to the willing coupon coordinator at our church who sorts and files them in a huge binder. We have access to that binder after church. (I stress "after" because there better not be anyone going through the book during the worship services!)
3. Besides printing additional coupons from Smartsource and Red Plum directly from a home computer you may wish to purchase popular coupons for a nominal fee from a clipping service. This site offers a review of some of them. More may be found via Internet searches. (When I did a search of my city I found that there is a service in my neighborhood! Who knew?!) If you find one in your area you might be able to pick up your selections saving the postage and cutting the wait time.
4. Once you've got your coupons there is the problem of organizing them. This is where my program always broke down. I hate searching through my folder or envelopes while in the store so I devised a workable solution for me. File the coupons by store rows. Then it doesn't matter that my store hides the toilet paper& in the same row as the cereal. Those coupons are in the same pocket. And I'm only dealing with one pocket at a time, moving my finger from pocket-to-pocket as I progress through the store. (If I go to a different store I need to remember that the toilet paper coupons are in with the cereal ones, but that's never been a problem for me.)

*I've got one more tip for helping to stay on track in the grocery store. Put the allotted grocery budget on a store gift card. I used to shop with cash (a la the Dave Ramsey method) but was astounded at the things that we might designate as "groceries" in a financial pinch. I might get to the store and find that the envelope money bought dog food at the pet store. (Hey! I thought we were trying to keep us from eating Alpo!) Putting the money onto a reloadable store gift card put a stop to that. And I'm especially careful with my purchases knowing there is a finite amount on that card. (Can you say, "No, son, there isn't enough on the card to purchase that big bag of beef jerky"? I can now.)

As an added bonus, since I shop at Kroger and our church participates in their Neighborhood Reward Program my reloads mean the company will make a 4% donation toward church summer camp for children who can't afford to pay their way. Check with your retailer to see if they have a similar program and then ask your church or charitable organization to participate.

Okay, I don't just shop at Kroger. But I do buy about 75% of my groceries there.  I reload my card 3 weeks out of each month and use the money for the 4th week to shop elsewhere. Someone else might need to put 75% and save 25% as cash each week for other expenditures, like dog food from the pet store or sales at other markets. Whatever works best for you. This is just how I budget to make sure only one "member of the family" is required to eat dog food. :)

Frugal Sunday Dinner 3/13/2011

Our menu yesterday consisted of

• Oven-fried Chicken Parmesan
• Poultry Stuffing
• Green Beans & Potatoes
• corn
• biscuits
• Punch Bowl Cake
• ice tea and lemonade

There were 9 of us at the table yesterday.  (Baby Lili was sleeping in my bedroom.)  We had a guest preacher staying in our home also.

I wish I had taken pictures of the meal, at the very least one of the Punch Bowl Cake.  Or better yet, of Sweet Pea who sat guarding it the whole time dinner was in the oven.  Or perhaps of that moment at the table when she took a bite and started sputtering like an engine in need of a tune-up.  Until then, no one - and I mean no one - knew she didn't like coconut.  That Sweet Pea!  She sure has the potential of adding a touch of levity to any recipe!

The Punch Bowl Cake was not "Plan A" for my dessert.  I intended to serve a golden butter cake with chocolate fudge icing (the icing is my mother-in-law's recipe) but the layers fell apart coming out of their pans.  Of course!  What did I expect when there was a guest for dinner? Hence the need for "Plan B," the Punch Bowl Cake.  I think Sweet Pea wished there had been a "Plan C."   

Anyway, besides the corn that came out the freezer, the biscuits, and the drinks, I will share where I found the recipes.  You'll need to use your imagination to see it.

The Oven-Fried Chicken Parmesan recipe was from The Kraft Cookbook.  It was published in 1977 to celebrate 75 years of Kraft.  I've owned the book since we married in 1978.  I doubled this recipe and used only thighs and legs that I bought on sale a couple of weeks ago.  Every other ingredient is a staple around here, including the parmesan cheese.

The recipe for Poultry Stuffing is in the book Fix-It and Forget-It Recipes for Entertaining, a slow cooker recipe book.  This recipe was a good way of using some of the free bread that I've been blessed with in abundance in recent weeks.  I put a loaf through the food processor and we were in business!  At one point our visiting preacher joked that he thought I was making bread pudding, which means he must've thought the Punch Bowl Cake had fizzled and that I'd moved on to "Plan C" for dessert.  Very funny!  Hmm. On second thought, I wonder if Sweet Pea likes bread pudding?  Maybe we'll find out next week.

I used a recipe for Green Beans & Potatoes from Busy People's Slow Cooker Cookbook.  It was very good and used bacon bits for texture and flavor.  Canned beans are the basis for this recipe.

The Punch  Bowl Cake was also found in a cookbook, but one compiled for a fundraiser.  And since the person who submitted the recipe is my aunt, I don't think she will mind if I share it.  Come to think of it, I think she got this recipe from me in the first place because I was making this dessert several years before this cookbook was published.  Either way, no one will care that I share.

Punch Bowl Cake



1 pkg. butter recipe cake mix
2 6-serving packages of vanilla instant pudding (my store doesn't sell this size anymore so I used 3 4-serving sizes instead)
5 c. milk
3 bananas, sliced
2 (20 oz.) cans of cherry pie filling
2 (20 oz.) cans of crushed pineapple, drained
1 1/3 c. coconut (which shall be omitted in the future thanks to Sweet Pea!)
1 (16 oz.) container of frozen whipped topping
pecans, chopped (which I had already omitted because others in the family don't like nuts)

Bake the cake according to directions and allow to cool. Break into pieces (my cake did this for me, sigh)  and place in the bottom of punch bowl.  Beat pudding and milk.  Cover cake with half of pudding, half of bananas, 1 can of pie filling followed by 1 can of pineapple, half the coconut.  Repeat the layers.  Spread whipped topping over the top and garnish with nuts and more coconut if desired.  Refrigerate overnight.


The worst part about the punch bowl cake is that it takes up so much space in my already over-crowded refrigerator!  This is where the crock-pot recipes were helpful.  Many of their ingredients are shelf items and very little that had to be prepared ahead needed to be refrigerated.  And I did use both crockpots again yesterday.

It was a little bit harder to determine the cost per person for this meal.  We had left-overs of everything, including the chicken, so Pastor Dad, The Bear, and I will get another meal out of this.  Obviously this increases the number of people it will feed and diminishes the cost per serving.   My most expensive items were the chicken at about $7 (the total cost on the packages), and the canned goods for the dessert that I bought on an emergency run back to the store.    There's no way this meal cost more than $1.75 per person and I'd say that estimate is high even though the biscuits were canned (bought for less than $0.30 per can during one of the savings events of recent weeks).  

If I can keep my cost between $1.50 and $2.00 per portion each Sunday I am one happy hostess.

Frugal Food

This is the picture of the end of a very thrifty meal that served 15 people. Well, okay, that's an exaggeration. Baby Lili brings her own food source with her so that means only 14 people were fed from my crockpots Sunday.

Notice the cooker on the left. It was a gift from my parents many years ago and it has lived a long, useful life. I got the super-duper upgraded model on the right as a gift from Lulu and Dan (only Dan probably doesn't know anything about it) and I think Lulu managed to get all of her siblings involved in the purchase of it in one way or another. The new one was meant to replace my poor, disfigured, broken crockpot except I couldn't bring myself to throw it away. Sure the crockery is a bit cracked and the handles are taped on but the heating element still works just fine thankyouverymuch! I'm a bit cracked and taped up but you wouldn't think of throwing me away would you?  Don't answer that.  And let me just say for the record that my heater works just fine these days - or nights - too.

Anyway, I wouldn't dream of taking the old one to church dinners or anything like that for fear of the tape working loose and the whole shebang going "bang" but for after church dinners at home? Well, it still meets a need.

I like to spend time with my extended family over Sunday dinner if at all possible. I've got a bit of my paternal grandma in me, I think. I remember fondly those days at her house playing with my cousins while the grown-ups did grown-up things . . . like playing board and card games. Some things never change. :)

I also like to be able to invite others home with us on the spur of the moment.  That isn't always possible, but there is usually room for another 1 or 2 (or 3) around my table(s) as long as they don't mind eating home-cooking served rather informally.

The secret to inexpensive Sunday dinners is in planning ahead. 'Way ahead. I'm talking think-like-Thanksgiving-Day-is-coming soon ahead. I already have next week's meal planned and part of the next week also. I'm also scheduled to take a meal later this week to a family who has a new addition so I'm preparing for that meal also.  Nothing like a new baby to make me want to go sneak a peek at the little darling.   I've learned that if you stop by with food they don't mind the intrusion.

Yesterday's meal consisted of pork tenderloin, scalloped potatoes, tossed salad, mixed California style veggies with cheese sauce, home made crescent rolls, and white Texas sheet cake with chocolate ice cream for dessert. I figure that I spent $1.50 per person. The most expensive thing was the pork, but by fixing a whole tenderloin (and buying it on sale) it went further with less waste than individual pork chops would.  Plus I didn't need to worry about the one-to-one correspondence between each person and his or her chop.  Pork chop, that is.

I made my rolls the day before with another cost and labor-saving device: my faithful old bread machine that I bought as a reconditioned item almost 20 years ago.   It has more than paid for itself many times over.

I planned the cooking of the meat and side dishes carefully.  The pork went into the old crockpot and the potatoes went into the new one. The potatoes needed the "keep warm" setting that engages on the newer model once the cook time has elapsed. I made the cheese sauce in the little crockpot immediately after I got home from church for anyone that wanted to put it over the California veggies. 

My roast and potato recipes came from the Fix It and Forget It Recipes for Entertaining cookbook  that I found on sale a few years ago and the white Texas sheetcake one came from the Gooseberry Patch Family Favorite Recipes cookbook that I bought a couple of years ago for full price, but with a gift card. The rolls recipe was from a book that I got at a yardsale in Georgetown, SC while on vacation at Myrtle Beach many years ago (strange, but true:  who goes to yard sales on vacation especially when she doesn't go to them in her own neighborhood?) called Bread Machine Magic.

So I figure that for around $21 I fed us all. I'd hate to think what it would cost to take us all out to eat at a restaurant. Even eating off a dollar menu would not be as "ful"filling.

Speaking of eating out, if you like the flavors of certain restaurant cuisine but not the accompanying price you might be interested in this downloadable e-book entitled "28 No-Guilt Copycat Recipes" that are not only cheaper to make at home but diet friendly.  (Thanks to Cincinnati Cents for the tip.)



Note to Lisa:  I don't know how I could possibly publish anything about frugality that you don't already know!  I think I taught you everything I knew when you were growing up in our home.  And you've learned to live even more frugally yourself on a military salary.  Thanks for the encouragement, though.  Maybe I'll come across something new to teach you.  Love,  Mom