When life gives you lemons.

OR, as in my case, when your aunt, who's really more like your sister, gives you a really cute wire basket from Crate and Barrel FULL of gorgeous Meyer lemons from the tree in her backyard for Christmas...make frozen lemon juice cubes to use later for cooking!

She gave me so many lemons I couldn't possibly use them all. And I knew I wanted to juice them to use later to melt in sauces, etc. So I went on a search for ice cube trays. And would you believe I could not FIND any? Someone said they might be a summer thing? Whatever the reason, I couldn't find any. But the other day I stopped by the local thrift shop and found two ice cube trays for a quarter each! They were purple...which threw me off for a minute...but then I got over it and realized they weren't going to be on display or anything so what did it matter?

Last night I squeezed all of the lemons into a measuring cup, poured the juice into the ice cube trays and froze them overnight. I'll put them in zipper storage baggies for later use! This makes me so happy...for so many reasons. I love the fact that the lemons were free. I love the fact that they didn't go to waste. I love the fact that I was able to find the tools I needed to do what I wanted to do at the thrift store...for VERY inexpensive.

The only downside to this? Now I need something else to display in the cute wire basket!

I love it when dinner extends to lunch.

Last night I made a chicken dish that made enough for my husband and I to have it for lunch, too! I have to admit that I am not one to plan meals. I mean, I think about it...and I peruse the sale ads...and I base my meals on what's on sale. But I don't plan each and every meal down to the condiment for a week...or even scarier...a MONTH?! And I certainly don't do all of that...plus buy what's on sale PLUS use double coupons and rebates. I would love it if I WERE this organized. I would. I am so amazed at the people that can do this. Amazed. But...I'm not that amazing. Not even close. I do what I can, though...

I knew I wanted to make pasta. Number one, it's good. Number two, it's easy. Number three, it's quick! I also knew I had some half and half in the fridge as well as grated Parmesan and frozen peas. Sounds good to me. But I knew my husband and sons would like some meat in that combo. I decided to defrost two boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cube them then saute them in olive oil and fresh garlic. I used the tasty brown bits on the bottom of the pan and some pasta water to make a light sauce. I then added the half and half, the pasta and the cheese and combined and warmed through. While the pasta warmed I made garlic bread, heated the peas and made a simple green salad as sides. It was quite tasty! And I had enough for leftovers for lunch today.

So I figure it cost me roughly $6 for four meals. FOUR! This does not inlcude the cost of milk, which we've been going through like CRAZY lately. Either way...I would say that's pretty frugal!

Frugal Foodie gifts: Carrot Cupcakes

Safeway has their 5 lb. bags of carrots on sale (until Tuesday), "Buy One, Get One Free" so I went ahead and picked up a couple of bags. I found a simple recipe for Carrot Cupcakes with Orange Icing at epicurious.com. I tried the recipe last night and it was delicious! My husband said the icing was a bit "too orange-y" but the kids and I loved it. I think it will be wonderful as gifts for friends and neighbors at Christmas, baked in those cute star-shaped, disposable muffin tins by Reynold's. I may even make them in the next week and then freeze them, uniced, until closer to Christmas. They'll be perfect for the holidays. Place 3-4 of the carrot cupcakes on a festive plate or tray, wrap with cellophane and a pretty ribbon, embellish with a pretty snowflake ornament (10-12 in a pack at the Dollar Store) and you've got a beautiful gift!

One bird=4 meals

Turkey with potatoes and stuffing
Turkey Soup with Herbed Dumplings
Lunch meat for 4 people for at least 2 days.

Not bad for a $6 turkey! I bought a 12 pound turkey after Thanksgiving. I knew that I could get at least two meals, not to mention several lunches, out of it. And since we didn't host Thanksgiving, we didn't really have many leftovers. This made my family very sad. I knew I hadto make us our own bird.

At about noon today, after returning from church, I got the turkey out of the fridge and began getting it ready to roast. I didn't do anything with the giblets (I know...not totally frugal of me...but I'm just not a giblet person.) I did, however, stuff it with celery, carrots, garlic, butter and fresh sage I clipped from my backyard. I stuffed a few sage leaves under the breast skin as well as a few pats of butter and some smashed garlic. Then I drizzled the bird with olive oil and seasoned it with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. I heated the oven to 450' to get it good and hot but once I put the bird in I lowered it to 350'. I left the lid off for about an hour and got a little color to the skin. Then I covered it for about 2 hours. In the last hour, I left it uncovered to get some more golden color. It came out gorgeous....if I don't say so myself. I asked my husband and sons to come in the kitchen and "ooh and aah" over it before I carved it...and they did! Each of them oohed and aahed perfectly. It was great.

While the turkey was "resting" I prepared the potatoes and gravy and stuffing and warmed the rolls.

Everything came out quite yummy. I experimented with the stuffing using dark rye bread and a bit of leftover cornbread. It was OK. Not the best I've ever had. I did like the rye bread, but I am used to making stuffing with ground beef or maybe some ground pork. Unfortunately, I didn't have any. So onion and celery it was. I also added a handful of dried cranberries..for the heck of it. It wasn't bad but I prefer savory stuffing. The cranberries made it too sweet for my liking. It wasnt awful. But I've had better.

All in all it was a good meal. And my family was thrilled and full and happy. And to top it off, my husband did the dishes! Thank you Honey.

Green Frugality

In my quest to live a frugal life I am finding myself more and more interested in living a more sustainable lifestyle. In researching sustainability I am often led to other areas such as "green" living and the idea of leaving smaller "footprints". I love this. While I know that I cannot save the world, I can make a difference. And that is my intention. To live more frugally also means to live more simply. What could be more frugal than growing your own food and canning and preserving it? (Other than using solar and wind power, digging a well, raising chickens and cows, etc. of course...I know. But you gotta start somewhere, right? I'm choosing to start with a garden.)

My oldest son has taken to calling me a "health freak". He's 12. So I take it with a grain of salt. AND as a compliment.

My 9 year-old, on the other hand, likes to read labels, too. We've decided, he and I, that the only way to get around high-fructose corn syrup in our jellies and jams is to make it our dang selves. In preparation for this I've been watching for canning supplies at the thrift store. And I have a vast Wish List over at Amazon.com of books that will help me learn the art of canning! And my 90 year-old grandmother told me I could have her canning supplies, too. So I'm pretty excited really!

Anyway...not quite "green" yet...but definitely a strong chartreuse! It's a start!

Kartoffelpuffers anyone?

I found this recipe on a blog I love to read. Her outlook on life and simplicity is admirable and insipring. And this recipe is so timely! I just bought a 5lb. bag of potatoes last night at Lucky for 79 cents! Could it be true? Dinner for 4 under $2? I see a challenge in my future!

Want to make Kartoffelpuffers for YOUR family? Head on over to down---to---earth and read a few posts down. I'll let you know how mine turned out!

What's in your freezer?

Being on a budget, and that budget sometimes being tighter than others, I am always trying to figure out more ways to stretch our continually shrinking dollar. Last night's dinner is a good example. I had no idea what I was going to make. I am so envious of those women who plan a weeks meals using sale items, coupons, freebies, and what's on their shelves to create delicious meals for pennies. For whatever reason, I just haven't been able to get it together enough to DO it. But, once in a while, I get lucky.

So dinner time was drawing near, and I still had no idea what I'd make. I took a peek in the freezer and realized I had two boneless, skinless chicken breasts left in the package. Hmm. How can I feed four people with two chicken breasts? Why of course. Soup.

I placed the chicken in a pot full of water with some garlic cloves, celery leaves, a bay leaf and salt and pepper corns. I also added a beef bone I'd kept from the chuck roast I'd made. It still had a bit of meat on it and I didn't want to waste it. At the time I saved it I had no idea what it would be good for. But it turned out to be perfect for the chicken soup. It didn't give it a beefy flavor. But it did make the broth much richer. It was really good.

Once the broth was ready, about 40 minutes later, I strained it and let it sit while I chopped some carrots, celery and onion. I sauteed them in some olive oil while I chopped up the chicken and removed the bit of beef from the bone. Once the vegetables were tender I added all of the broth, salt and a bay leaf, Italian seasoning and the meat. I let it simmer for about 40 minutes. About 15 minutes before serving I added a handful of Yemina. a handful of rice and a handful of frozen peas. (As you can see, I am not concerned with precise measurements. I think this is why baking and I don't get along so great. Baking can be so finicky!)

There are several reasons why I loved this meal:

One: I love chicken soup. Especially when it's cold, which it is here, finally.

Two: Not only did it feed us dinner, it also fed ME lunch.

Three: It was fresh and healthy...good for the body and the soul.

And it cannot go without mentioning, this meal was also quite frugal: Chicken; $2.00, vegetables; $1.00, Yemina: $.10, rice; $.10. Total for the chicken soup: $3.20. I served it with some sliced french bread I'd purchased at the Dollar Tree. This loaf lasted 3 meals! I served it with two pasta dinners and then the soup. So if I tally that along with the cost of the soup to get a Grand Total for the price of the dinner...$3.53! To feed a family of four! I love it.

Two meals in one...

A friend of ours lives on 5 acres and raises his own cattle for beef. It turns out that he wanted to trade my husband a 1/4 side of beef for a tool that my husband no longer had use for. This sounded great, except for the fact that we wouldn't have anywhere to store it. When I told him this he said, "Well, how about I give you a freezer to store it in?" Really? Sure! We've been wanting a freezer for the garage for a while now. What a blessing...patience paid off.

So, as a good faith offering, he gave us a Chuck Roast the other day. I seasoned it with salt, pepper and garlic powder then seared it on all sides in a little bit of butter and olive oil. While it was searing I peeled some potatoes and carrots and put them in the bottom of the Crock pot. I added a bit of water and some salt then layered the roast right on top of it all. I let it cook all day, about 9 hours, on low. I served it with corn bread and some petite peas. It was delicious. I could get spoiled by truly fresh beef.

The best part is that there was quite a bit of all of it left over. So we had the corn bread for breakfast this morning and tomorrow I will turn the meat, potatoes and peas into a stew. And I guess if you include the cornbread for breakfast it makes 3 meals! Not bad.