Thursday, January 22, 2015

Pro Tips!

Holidays can be a real pain for budgets. Those who budget but don't have an awful lot extra to spend on get-togethers and celebrations can also feel the pain that comes when everyone else is spending and it looks like they're having the good times. It's hard in that moment to feel ahead to mid-January when you won't have a credit card bill to stare in shock at. 

But here we are. It's January and time to look forward to tax season and the two next holidays are Valentine's and St. Patrick's Days. And I stumbled upon a moment of genius at the grocery store this month to get me through two more holidays of celebrating on da cheap. (photo from a google search)

Tis the season for the grocery store to get rid of their Christmas inventory, and this festive little critter was on sale at our Kroger for SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS A BOX. So, I bought two. The red half is in the oven to make a romantic red velvet cake, and the other half is staying in the box until March, for St. Patrick's Day cupcakes.

I scored a few other baking things as well. Cinnamon, chocolate chips, pumpkin spice stuff, all of it leaves the shelves as soon as its holiday is over. I paid half price for most of it. Keep an eye out a week or two after the holidays and stock up on baking goods then. It's also a great time to get inexpensive decor to put up for next year, if you have margin in your budget for that.

Commenters: What baking scores have you made in your after-holiday shopping? 

Friday, January 16, 2015

An Experi-Mint! Oh, dear, that horrible pun



I love mint. As a child, my grandmother would pick from the mint that grew like a weed in her front yard and would boil, sweeten, and ice it to make fresh, green mint tea in the summer. I now use it dried in my echinacea, mint, and lemon balm tea for when we have colds or sore throats.

Most people will tell you that it is super easy to grow, and tends to take over like a weed. I'd have no idea about that because I can't keep it alive. I have killed every single mint plant that has come into my possession. So, as a last-ditch effort, I'm going to try to root some from the cuttings you can buy at your local grocery store. I put a little rooting hormone in the glass with water, and have it sitting in a brightly-lit window. I put six more mature sprigs in the red pot with rooting hormone at the base of the stem, and fresh potting soil on it. That one will sit on top of the computer where it will be away from small child interest. I want to know if either method will work better, if any works at all. If neither, my local Lowe's is getting some business from me buying another set of plants, to see if I can keep them alive.

Comment with links to good mint-growing, mint-starting, and mint recipe websites. :) Good luck, and I'll probably edit this post with an update when I get some results.

****UPDATE****
The mint in the pot died, but the mint in the water grew beautiful roots within 2 weeks and transitioned nicely into the pot. It is sitting in the bright windowsill enjoying the sunshine with its new herb buddies: sage, thyme, and rosemary, all from a $0.99 "poultry herb blend" similar to the mint stash. I bought some more mint, but that had all been chopped into tiny pieces, so I'll just use it for cooking. I'll update again with those herbs' results. :)

When the gardening bug strikes early

I have a serious illness. I don't know the name of it, but it causes me to get the itch to garden every time the weather warms past 50 F. Since I live in Zone 7, that means mid-January. Mid-January is no time to be gardening. In fact, it is a better time to be doing things like drinking hot cocoa and preparing for our snowy season, which tends to start in February.

But we crazy gardening types have a recourse. You don't have to have a cozy day to start gardening planning and preparation. Pictured above is my garden prep so far, besides putting in my overwinter plants (onions and garlic and my echinacea seeds that I harvested last year).

I have a rough sketch of my space (Top Right) with all the plants in their spots. If you make a garden design plan, be sure to keep a copy for next year so you can rotate your crops, especially those nutrient-hungry legumes and potatoes.

I have my clothespins (Right Center), which will be snapped to wooden skewers and used as plant markers. In the big picture, you can see one of last year's survivors that I'm reusing. Because it is a pain to dig through a bag of those things while you're planting, I have snapped one to the seed packet that is relevant to it, and that should help me to keep up with them. The fading happens pretty quickly, but by the time the information has all washed off of the skewers, the plants should be recognizable.

All of this is coordinated through the planting guide (Bottom Right) that lists the types of plants, any companions they should have, and when to plant them. I highlighted early and late planters. I was so stoked that peas apparently are cool with being planted as early as February, which will give me something to do the next time the bug strikes. I will move the start indoors babies to the big garden after the soil gets tilled sometime in mid-to-late April. I share a garden plot with two other families, and I can't wait to fill the beautiful space with flowers, herbs, and veggies to cook, eat, can, freeze, and share!

Monday, January 5, 2015

This is what happens...

...when there is so much amazing that it encroaches on my sharing ability.

Our little home has been pretty busy lately, but I've felt that niggling feeling in my fingertips that I need to keep writing, if not to help me remember it all, then to simply give these thoughts expression. And the only way to make it happen is to simply write, if only for a few minutes while your sunny side egg and rice cools off. This is how the magic happens: on a new gaming keyboard with 6-key rollover and a cool little green light on the front. The clicky sounds are soothing and inspiring.

SO, today's gift to the world:

My mother-in-law introduced me to sunny side egg and rice when I was pregnant with Raiden. It sounded horrible, but tasted wonderful. For the pregnant/nursing mom, getting all the nutrition from the brown rice and the (preferably local, pastured) delicious eggs and dash of cheese was essential. All this not to mention how quick it was to make.

The key is to keep your rice on hand. Brown rice takes a long time to cook, so you want to make a big pot and keep the leftovers in the fridge. Then, all you have to do is fry an egg or two until the yoke is almost set, add a little cheese or beans for flavor, and you have a lot of protein very quickly. When I was pregnant with Raiden, I had this breakfast down to 2.5 minutes start-to-finish to make. I'd put the egg on first, then scoop about 1/2 cup of rice to heat in the microwave, flip the egg, add the cheese, get the rice, remove the egg, and be done. The protein curbed the nausea and the complex carbs kept me full longer.

*Note: if you're pregnant, make sure your egg is hot enough to kill any listeriosis critters that might be lurking about. Only about one in 6 million eggs are contaminated (if memory serves), but it's worth noting nonetheless. My OB told me to make sure the food was steaming hot.