Dollar-S-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g, Cabinet-Clearing, Clean-Up-The-Food Project Plans For July

Due to changes in insurance coverage and extra payments being taken out all at once, July promises to be a few hundred dollars shorter than normal. No biggie! We'd be okay, either way, but, in light of the shortfall, we decided that July would be the perfect to time to institute one of our dollar-s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g, cabinet-clearing, clean-up-the-food project months, so...that's what we're doing!

Our plan is to begin by doing a complete food inventory to see what we have on hand. I will do the end-of-the-month shopping, as usual, toward the end of this week, but, I will not do a full shop. I will only purchase fresh items and items needed to round out what we have on hand. I will post my progress throughout the month and share meal plans and recipes as I can. 

I am excited about this challenge and am excited to share it with you! 

Until next time...
~Rebecca

My Dollar-Stretching, Cabinet-Clearing, Clean-The-Food-Up Project For March - DAY 1 - 3/1/14

As food prices and utility bills continue to soar I have a renewed determination to cut expenses and get out of debt. In February we were able to finally pay off another credit card...one that has held us in bondage for over 12 long years! It felt so good to finally be rid of that beast and lesson learned! NEVER use a credit card to get a cash advance if you can't afford to pay it back immediately!

Over the past few days I've been making an inventory of all food on-hand...in the refrigerator, in the refrigerator-freezer, in the deep-freeze, the cabinets, and pantry and I am making March's menus based on said items. My goal in March is to spend as little as possible on groceries and put the money that would have been spent on them towards more immediate needs. It is ridiculous the amount of food that is in this house. I'm used to shopping for a big family and now that it's just John and I...well...like I said...it's ridiculous! Anyway...I implemented my plan yesterday and I hope to give you a day-by-day account of my progress. 

So...here goes with Day 1 of My Dollar-Stretching, Cabinet-Clearing, Clean-The-Food-Up Project For March...

DAY 1 - Saturday, March 1, 2014

* Since we have our own chickens we usually have plenty of beautiful brown and blue eggs on-hand, plus a friend of ours, who also had an abundance of eggs, gave us a dozen of her white ones. Another friend had given us a small package of home-grown and processed bacon back quite some time ago, and at the time I cooked it, I took the leftovers, crumbled them, and froze them as bacon bits for salads and whatnot. I still had a small package of them in the freezer. I also had two tortillas left over from the last time I made chicken enchiladas, so, since my husband is careful to keep his egg intake to a minimum and, generally doesn't eat meat...especially red meat (he does eat it, but very rarely and very sparingly)...I decided to take those last two tortillas and use them in breakfast burritos for myself. I had one for breakfast on the 1st and had the second one for breakfast this morning. My breakfast burritos consisted of one tortilla, a scrambled egg, half of the leftover bacon bits, and a slice of Borden's 2% sliced cheese on each. 

* I boiled six of the white eggs to be used as egg salad and/or deviled eggs later in the week.

* I had 6 turkey hot dogs in the refrigerator freezer, a pint of leftover frozen chili, and four frozen hot dog buns, so, for lunch, I made two chili dogs each for John and I and served them with an on-hand, partial bag of Chester's Cheese Puff Corn. The other two hot dogs I will use in something later in the week. 

* For supper I used fresh green peppers and brown rice and made a Stuffed Pepper Casserole. As always it was DE-LICIOUS! :)

* For a sweet treat I used the last three over-ripe bananas and the last of last year's pecans to make a simple Banana-Nut Cake topped with powdered sugar. It was yummy, too, and it will last for several days...unless we have company and then it will be offered up then with tea. :) 

* I also used the last three frozen containers of bits of saved, leftover vegetables (green beans, spaghetti squash, tomatoes, peas, celery, etc...I do this...I use little freezer containers and just add bits of leftover vegetables to them until they're full, then I start a new one...when there are enough, I make soup with them), an open quart of home-canned tomatoes, and odds and ends of fresh vegetables from the refrigerator (fresh zucchini, a quarter head of cabbage, a carrot, etc.), and 3/4 of an already cut-into onion to make a small pot of vegetable soup. Part of it will be eaten throughout the week (my husband could LIVE on vegetable soup...he loves it!) and part of it will be refrozen for quick lunches for him later in the month. 

That's day one of my Dollar-Stretching, Cabinet-Clearing, Clean-The-Food-Up Project for March. My plan is to report today's progress to you tomorrow.

Have a blessed week ahead and, for those in the areas impacted by these terrible winter storms, stay warm and stay safe! God bless all here!

All My Love,

~Rebecca

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

The weather has turned cool here in southwest Missouri and visions of hot soup coupled with freshly baked, homemade bread assails my thoughts. While I didn't have time to bake the bread that I would like to have this morning, by using a recipe that I found online as a guide, and tweaking it to use ingredients I had on hand, I did manage to come up with this delicious hot soup for today's lunch. It turned out very nice and I'm sure that it is one I will make again.

CHICKEN AND WILD RICE SOUP

1/2 cup light butter (1 stick)
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, sliced thin
1 stalk celery, sliced thin
3/4 cup flour
6 cups chicken stock (or 6 cups water with bouillon cubes to taste) - (I used a combination of the two)
1/2 cup brown rice
1/4 cup Minnesota wild rice
2 cups leftover, chopped cooked chicken

(Before starting I combined and cooked the brown and wild rice in a medium pan. That way it would be cooked and ready by the time I needed it.)

In a large soup kettle, melt butter and sauté onion, carrots, and celery until tender. Stir in flour. Gradually add stock until mixture comes to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium low. Add prepared rice and chicken to stock and simmer 10 minutes. Serve hot.

Clean-Up-The-Leftovers Pizza?

In an earlier post I shared my intent to plan January's menus around what's on hand and, thus far, I've done pretty well with it. But I had to tell you about what I did last night.

Now, granted, when I tell you about it it is going to sound absolutely repulsive. Even as I was making it I was thinking, "Yuck!", but I have to say, what I did turned out to be absolutely delicious and, even my son who, truthfully, was afraid to even try it at first, agreed that it was one of the best pizzas I have ever made!

I started with my usual recipe of homemade pizza crust. Then I topped it with the following...

- leftover pasta sauce from Friday night's spaghetti and meatballs
- a generous dash of oregano (to give it that distinct 'pizza' flavor)
- one can of sliced mushrooms, drained
- about a 1/2 cup of Saturday night's butter and garlic penna pasta (I took scissors and cut each piece of penna into 1/4-inch slices...what made me think of this was the fact that I've actually seen 'macaroni and cheese' pizza advertized...I've always thought, "Pasta on top of pizza? Gross!" but it was actually quite tasty! And the wheat pasta that we use holds up very nicely.)
- Sunday afternoon's leftover turkey Italian sausage and roasted Italian-seasoned potatoes (sliced thin...there was only about 4 1 1/2-inch pieces of the sausage and about the same number of  and size of potatoes)
- a couple of handfuls of mozzarella cheese
- and a generous sprinkle of Parmesan

That's all there was to it! A lot of leftovers used up out of the fridge, a lot of empty dishes in the sink, dollars saved, and a delicious and unusually flavored pizza that was very filling...AND there were enough slices leftover from that for lunch today!

I determined to be creative after the first of the year and this was one of the boldest steps I've taken thus far. It encourages me to be even bolder in the days ahead!

Have a blessed day, Sweet Ladies!

All My Love,
~Rebecca

Monday Afternoon And That Leftover Turkey Carcass

Good Afternoon, Dear Ladies!

Christmas is over and oh! What a lovely Christmas season it's been! We haven't had a lot of money and we certainly weren't able to give like we would like to have given (in fact...most of our money in December went towards fixing plumbing problems...roots in our sewer pipes...not so lovely!)...but, regardless...we've had a beautiful Christmas season spending special time with family, friends, and loved ones.

Our family Christmas (the one spent with all of our children and grandchildren) was the 10th of December. Christmas Eve was spent with our oldest daughter and her family; Christmas Day (after church) was spent at our oldest son and daughter-in-law's with two of our children and their families. Afterwards we visited with old friends from back home, then John and I spent Christmas evening together unwinding after a busy week of holiday and church activity.

To be honest...Christmas night a dark depression fell upon me, but after a good cry, a long talk with the Lord, and scripture reading I was able to rise above it. By this morning I was back on top and ready to go!

So far today I've straighten house, did dishes, two loads of laundry, and have deboned the leftover turkey, and am now cooking down the carcass for broth. In doing a search I found this great article on what to do with that leftover turkey carcass and it includes a whole host of recipes...

Save That Turkey Carcass and Your Leftover Turkey And Turn It Into Turkey Soup!

Next, I'm getting ready to plan my menus out for the next week or two.

I pray that you and yours had a beautiful Christmas, as well, and I wish each and every one of you a bright, prosperous, and happy New Year! God bless all here!

All My Love,
~Rebecca