Trip to the Farmer's Market

I got some yummy looking veggies at the farmer's market today. I can't wait to have some for dinner tonight!

Great Deals!

As part of my goal to live life intentionally, I have been making a real effort to be wise with our spending. I've been following some blogs that list the deals that you can get at various stores every week. I haven't done much with it for the past several weeks, but this week I couldn't pass up the deals. Here's what I got:


20 SoyJoy bars at $1 each
Used 1 B1G1 coupon from the 5/31 SmartSource insert
Used $1/5 coupon
Used $2/10 coupon from the 5/31 SmartSource insert
Spent $16.45 out of pocket
Got $20 ECBs back.

That's right!! I got paid $3.55 to get 20 SoyJoy bars. That's what I call a bargain!

Then I also bought 5 boxes of Always Infinity pads. I haven't tried them yet, but I've heard they're amazing! It's an unadvertised deal at CVS this week. They're normally $10.79 a piece for a big box, but they're on sale for $4.99 this week. I used the following coupons:

1 $4/1 coupon from the 6/7 Procter & Gamble insert
1 $1/1 coupon from the 6/7 Procter & Gamble insert
1 $3/1 coupon
2 $1/1 coupons

Total after coupons was $15.51. I used $5.87 from a CVS gift card, and spent $9.64 out of pocket. That's 5 boxes for less than the price of 1 box at regular price! It averages out to $1.93 per box. Yippee!

Update! - Whole Wheat Bread

Today I made a loaf of bread using the same recipe I posted here, only this time I added wheat gluten to the mixture. What a difference!! The bread is sooo yummy! The texture is great, and it isn't heavy like the last loaf I made. I'm so excited to have found a great way to make my own whole wheat bread. I wasn't sure about adding the wheat gluten, but I found some made by the Bob's Red Mill brand at the store last week, so I thought I would give it a try. I'm so glad I did!

Home-made Jam

Last night my husband ran to the store to grab something we needed with supper, and found strawberries on sale for $0.50 for a one pound box. He bought two boxes, and they were absolutely delicious!! We ate them all last night for dessert. Mmmm. Nothing beats fresh strawberries. This morning I decided to back to the store to buy a bunch more so I could make my own strawberry jam. I was very disappointed to find that the price had gone up to $0.99 per pound. I'm not really sure what justifies the price doubling over night? Anyway, they were so good, and I was so excited about the prospect of making my own jam, that I bought 10 boxes anyway. And $0.99 doesn't seem like a bad price, anyway. If it is a bad price, don't tell me. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

I've never made my own jam before. I used to help my mom do it every year, but it's been a long time since I've done that. I read about it online, though, it seemed pretty simple, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I did have to go out and buy jars and lids, and I also bought a pair of jar tongs for getting hot jars out of the boiling water. I think this initial batch of jam probably is significantly more expensive than buying store-bought, but it's so tasty, and now I have most of the needed supplies, so it will be less expensive if I do it again.

I wasn't sure how much jam I would be able to make with the amount of strawberries I bought, but after making one batch I think I have enough to make 2 more batches. That will be 12 jars of jam! I am thrilled! I have to take a break from making it, because I ran out of sugar (I had no idea how much it takes!). But as soon as my Sweet Pea wakes up from her nap, or my husband gets home from work, I'm off to the store to get more sugar and finish making this sweet treat. Here's a picture of my first batch. The feeling of satisfaction I get from having worked to preserve my own jam is invigorating!

Farmer's Market!

I have been eagerly anticipating my first chance to go to a local farmer's market, and today was the day! It wasn't a very great day for it weather-wise. It is dark and gray outside with a cool mist falling. But that didn't stop me! Right after my husband left for work, I loaded my Sweet Pea into the car and off we went. There were probably 10 or 12 different little booths set up by farmers from Indiana and Wisconsin. There weren't too many fruits available, but it was wonderful to look at all the fresh veggies! I bought fresh asparagus, and radishes, and a beautiful head of lettuce. I also purchased some rhubarb so I can make another batch of Rhubarb Dessert, which has quickly become my husband's favorite rhubarb delicacy.

The farmers also had a nice selection of potted herbs, which I was so excited to try. I had just been telling my husband last night that I've looked for a potted basil plant at a few different places, and haven't had any luck. I was thrilled to find one today at the farmer's market - isn't it beautiful?

As noted in another post, we haven't had a lot of luck growing things from seed in our apartment. I've decided that there just isn't a window sill where the seedlings can get enough sunlight to grow big and strong. They always grow long and spindly as they stretch toward the sunlight, but don't develop a stem that is strong enough to hold them upright. So I thought maybe a plant that is already established would fair better. We'll see!

I'm looking forward to supper tonight with some really fresh veggies!

Progress

I left my Sweet Pea on the floor to play while I was in the kitchen doing a few things.




When I came back a few minutes later, this is how I found her:




What happened to the completely immobile baby girl I had brought home from the hospital a few months ago? Before I know it she'll be running!

A Dirty Deed

I was out and about shopping this morning, picking up a few things that I needed to make dinner for friends this evening (who, by the way, I am so excited to see! I haven't seen them since last August!!). I got home and put away the groceries, and then it was time to feed my Sweet Pea. When she'd finished eating I went to change her diaper. (That is not the dirty deed to which my title refers, in case you were wondering, although the title would aptly apply to that as well.) When I went to use the changing table, this is what I found:



Note the traces of dirt strewn about all over the changing pad...







Further investigation revealed this:


My naughty kitty had apparently decided to frolic in my husband's flowers while I was out. Flowers that are a long way from blessing us with their beautiful blossoms. My poor husband has tried to grow plants on our windowsill so many times, without success... Hopefully these will survive Charcoal's escapade.

New Recipes

I've tried out a couple of new recipes recently which use more natural ingredients. The first one is found here.

Grilled Lemon Chicken

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• ground black pepper to taste
• seasoning salt to taste
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat, and lightly oil grate. Marinade the chicken in lemon juice for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with the onion powder, ground black pepper, seasoning salt and parsley. Discard any remaining lemon juice.
2. Cook on the prepared grill 10 to 15 minutes per side, or until no longer pink and juices run clear.

This was so simple, but surprisingly good! I did find it frustrating, though, to read the ingredients on the bottle of lemon juice that I used. It shouldn't have been that surprising, I suppose, but it contains several ingredients other than lemon juice... I guess if I want to go all natural, I'll have to buy fresh lemons. And the seasoning salt (I used Lawry's) contains "tricalcium phosphate" which is supposed to prevent clumping. ::sigh:: Going all natural is not as easy as it should be! At any rate, its a good recipe that can be made all natural without too much effort.

The other recipe I tried is for whole wheat bread. I hadn't made bread using 100% whole wheat flour before, and I was afraid it might be really dry and/or heavy, but this recipe was pretty good.

100% Whole Wheat Bread

• 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons margarine
• 1 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

DIRECTIONS

1. Place ingredients in the bread machine pan in the order suggested by the manufacturer.
2. Select Whole Wheat or Basic Bread setting. Press Start.

I think I'll probably try some other recipes too, as this wasn't "amazing", but it was good. Some of the reviews suggest adding gluten to the dough (apparently you can buy gluten in a jar at the store), which will produce a lighter, fluffier loaf, but I'm not sure if that defeats the purpose of the whole wheat? I'm going to have to research more to find that out.

::Update:: Adding 2 TBLS of wheat gluten to the mixture makes this an excellent whole wheat bread recipe! Also, I don't use dry milk; instead I just use milk in place of the water. So yummy!

That is my first foray into natural cooking. I'll post more recipes I try as I go along. I have a lot to learn!

(By the way, I also have a lot to learn when it comes to blogging - I'm not sure what's going on with my formatting. Apparently copying and pasting text makes things go funky!)