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

Tea At The Pittsburg Public Library

My cousin lives in Pittsburg, Kansas and visits the public library there quite frequently. She recently got a hold of me to let John and I know that they were going to be having a 'Downton Abbey' tea there and wondered if we'd like to come. We reserved our spot and attended the tea this afternoon, and we were so glad that we did! We had a great time! There was plenty of tea, lots of goodies, a harpist, and Englishman, Rob Smith, who read poetry suitable for the occasion. Below are a few photographs and some of the poems that our English friend shared with us today.

John and I, my cousin, Nancy, and our mutual friend, Kelley.

Our 'Downton Abbey' Tea Hostess

Our Servers 

Harpist Tammy Wilcox

Harpist Tammy Wilcox

Our English Poetry Reader, Rob Smith, and Another Guest

A Cup of Tea by Anonymous

When the world is all at odds
And the mind is all at sea
Then cease the useless tedium
And brew a cup of tea.
There is magic in its fragrance,
There is solace in its taste;
And the laden moments vanish
Somehow into space.
The world becomes a lovely thing!
There’s beauty as you’ll see;
All because you briefly stopped
To brew a cup of tea.

Crumpets and Tea by Eugene Field

There are happenings in life that are destined to rise
Like dear, hallowed visions before a man’s eyes;
And the passage of years shall not dim in the least
The glory and joy of our Sabbath-day feast,—
The Sabbath-day luncheon that ’s spread for us three,—
My worthy companions, Teresa and Leigh,
And me, all so hungry for crumpets and tea.

There are cynics who say with invidious zest
That a crumpet’s a thing that will never digest;
But I happen to know that a crumpet is prime
For digestion, if only you give it its time.
Or if, by a chance, it should not quite agree,
Why, who would begrudge a physician his fee
For plying his trade upon crumpets and tea?

To toast crumpets quite à la mode, I require
A proper long fork and a proper quick fire;
And when they are browned, without further ado,
I put on the butter, that soaks through and through.
And meantime Teresa, directed by Leigh,
Compounds and |xnirs out a rich brew for us three;
And so we sit down to our crumpets—and tea.

A hand-organ grinds in the street a weird bit,—
Confound those Italians! I wish they would quit
Interrupting our feast with their dolorous airs,
Suggestive of climbing the heavenly stairs.
(It ’s thoughts of the future, as all will agree,
That we fain would dismiss from our bosoms when we
Sit down to discussion of crumpets and tea!)

The Sabbath-day luncheon whereof I now speak
Quite answers its purpose the rest of the week;
Yet with the next Sabbath I wait for the bell
Announcing the man who has crumpets to sell;
Then I scuttle downstairs in a frenzy of glee,
And purchase for sixpence enough for us three,
Who hunger and hanker for crumpets and tea.

But soon—ah! too soon—I must bid a farewell
To joys that succeed to the sound of that bell,
Must hie me away from the dank, foggy shore
That’s filled me with colic and—yearnings for more!
Then the cruel, the heartless, the conscienceless sea
Shall bear me afar from Teresa and Leigh
And the other twin friendships of crumpets and tea.

Yet often, ay, ever, before my wan eyes
That Sabbath-day luncheon of old shall arise.
My stomach, perhaps, shall improve by the change,
Since crumpets it seems to prefer at long range;
But, oh, how my palate will hanker to be
In London again with Teresa and Leigh,
Enjoying the rapture of crumpets and tea!

Ode To Tea by Richard Trott Fisher

O TEA! so fresh, so delicately fragrant,
So never palling, pure and comfortable!
Truly thy birth-place is well named Celestial,
        For thou dost bear
A type of heaven graven in thy nature:
        I read it there.

Thou art no Siren luring us to danger:
Unlike thy sister of the sunny hillside,
The flaunty Vine, who pours her sparkling nectar
        Of heavenly smell,
While in the bowl there lurks invisible
        A smack of hell:

Pregnant of wild desire and frantic folly,
And fairy sounds that seem to chaunt our names
And welcome us to brilliant enterprise;
        While in the air
A painted beacon tempts us to the swamp
        Of sad Despair.

But Tea! thou innocent, that, like a child
Playing before us, mak’st the world look gay!
With thee the maid may trust her forward fancy;
        The matron sage
May safely count with thee her oft-told reckoning
        Of bygone age.

For thee the weakling tossing on his pillow
With nervous longing watches in the morning:
The tinkling cup strikes on his ear like music;
        Thy odorous breath
Wafted around redeems his flagging spirit,
        As if from death.

To me, who wander idly down life’s byways,
Thou art the spring of health and fantasy.
So morn and evening will I court thy presence,
        To pay my vow;
And fondly linger at thy pleasant fountain,
        As I do now.

Recipe - Valentine Cherry Pie Bars

Photo Credit: Budget 101

This recipe has been going around Facebook the past couple of weeks or so and it catches my eye every time. I determined to make this recipe in celebration of Valentine's Day and our anniversary and I did so tonight. It turned out well and is absolutely delicious! Thought I'd share with you here! Happy Valentine's Day!!! <3

VALENTINE CHERRY PIE BARS

1 cup of butter softened (I used light butter)
2 cups of sugar (I used raw sugar)
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp almond extract
3 cups all purpose flour (I used unbleached, unbromated white wheat flour)
2 cans of cherry pie filling (can use just 1 if you need to)
Preheat Oven to 350F

In a mixing bowl, cream your butter, sugar- add eggs & extract. Beat well to mix. Add flour and salt, mixing well. Spread half of the batter in a greased 9x13 pan, Spoon the pie filling over the batter Randomly drop tablespoons remaining batter over the pie filling. Bake for 35 minutes or until your toothpick comes out clean

If you wish to add a glaze mix 1 c. powdered sugar, 1 tsp. almond extract, 2 tsp. milk and drizzle bars; cool.

Scrapbook Memories

Over the years my husband and I have took a lot of razzing over old photos, but, unless they've known us forever, most people don't realize that my husband and I are completely different people today than we were back in the early days. Those who knew us back then know the insane lives that we came out of and lived; those who didn't cannot even imagine.

My husband and I grew up together. Our dads were best friends and we were together a LOT (our dads usually played guitars together four to six nights a week!!!). After failed relationships on both ends, we finally got together as a couple and on Valentine's Day this year John and I will celebrate our 26th wedding anniversary. We didn't have a lot of wedding pictures because the man that took them never got them developed, but we did have a few instant prints...not very good ones, but it's all we've got. I decided to take a chance on more razzing and share some of them here. 

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, BABY! Mi tu amore! Forever and a day...

On The Menu - 2/10/14 - Corn Chowder and Hot Ham and Cheese

Corn Chowder Served With Grilled Hot Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

CORN CHOWDER

1 medium onion, chopped
1 can creamed corn
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 cup diced potatoes, cooked until tender
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 tsp. salt
pepper to taste

In a large saucepan brown onions, cooking over low heat. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for a few minutes.

God's "Rod" And "Staff"

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." ~ Psalm 23

I know that many are going through trials, tribulation, and troubles of all kinds right now, including many within my own sphere of family and friends, and I know of several who have lost loved ones within the past week. While reading this chapter just now, I couldn't help but be touched by the footnote in my Bible that accompanies Verse 4. It says:

"23:4 - thou art with me. In times of danger, difficulty and even death, I fear no evil. Why? "For thou art with me" in every situation of life (cf. Mat 28:20). The "rod" (a short club) is a weapon of defense or discipline, symbolizing God's strength, power and authority (cf. Ex 21:20; Job 9:34). The "staff" (a long slender stick with a hook on one end) is used to draw a sheep close to the shepherd, guide it in the right way or rescue it from trouble. God's rod and staff reassure us of God's love and guidance in our lives (cf. 71:21; 86:17)."

As each of us travel life's highway, may God's "rod" and "staff" be ever near. Have a blessed evening, one and all! <3