Sunday
BBQ Ribs, Au gratin Potatoes, Broccoli
Monday
BBQ Ribs, Au gratin Potatoes, Garden Salad
Tuesday
Southwestern Ranch Chicken Salad, Cornbread
Wednesday
Sloppy Joes, Corn on the Cob, Baked Beans
Thursday
Turkey Sandwiches, Veggies and Dip
Friday
Cheeseburger Pizza
Have you printed all the hot new e-coupons for June yet? Go here to print yours!
This post is linked to Org Junkie.
Since it's a few weeks past my self imposed To-Do List Deadline it's high time for an update on how I did.
You can click here to check out my original list of Trixie's List of 25 Things To Do. And, you can read about how I was coming along two weeks into it by clicking here.
Almost everything is completed! One drawback to following a list so closely is that I kept coming up with more things to add to the list! Every time I started one project, it brought to mind 2 or 3 additional projects that were semi-related. I forced myself to not add any of these new items to the To-Do list, otherwise it would get unbearably long and I would just give up. However, I did stop and do a few extra projects. One was sorting, condensing and organizing a bunch of paper clutter. You can read about how we (try) to tame the paper monster here.
Out of twenty-five things to do, I ended up not completing four things.
19. Cut up more rags for George (Partially done)
I ran into a snag with #19. It's easy for me to chop up George's old worn out clothes and turn them into rags. Not so easy with my worn out clothes. Most of my clothing tends to be higher quality stuff (bought as cheaply as possible, of course) so that it lasts a long time. Some of my nicer shirts and blouses had passed the point of looking presentable in public, but I could not make myself cut them up. Why not save them to become "work in the garden" and "help George" clothing pile? Glad you asked. I already have one of those. There are only so many "work around the house" clothes a girl needs. My sister came up with the brilliant idea of saving the good parts of each article to use for sewing projects. I sew, and I couldn't even come up with the idea. Goodness.
20. Search thrift stores for a leather belt for George, work shirts for George, summer skirts for me
Sigh, I'm just not one of those people that enjoys shopping that much. I haven't been able to force my self to do this yet. I did however use up a Land's end gift card on 2 pairs of crop pants. I heart crop pants. If they ever go out of style (or have they already?) never, ever tell me.
21. Clean out kitchen junk drawer
Sigh, I'm just not one of those people that enjoys cleaning out junk drawers that much..... This is one of those projects that in reality does not take very long to do -- perhaps 15 minutes. I'm trying to jump over the mental hurdle I've built up about how awful it will be. Does this happen to you too?
24. Hem curtains for bay window
I'm starting to notice a bad pattern developing. The things I feel like doing get done first and they get done enthusiastically. All I can say about hemming the curtains is eh, not too interested in doing it right now. This pattern of only doing what I feel like doing is not a good thing -- after all, life is filled with tasks that we aren't really crazy about doing.
My main reason for creating Trixie's 25 Things To-Do List was to motivate myself to take care of several projects before summer was in full swing. In the warmer months I like to spend most of my spare time outdoors gardening and just enjoying the beautiful weather. It's hard to do this guilt free when there is a list of chores that need to be done inside. Even with 4 things left un-done I feel pretty good about going into summer and enjoying my time outside.
Monday
Memorial Day BBQ
Tuesday
Beef Taco Bake, Broccoli
Wednesday
Almond Chicken Casserole, Asparagus, Garden Salad
Thursday
Oven Fried Pork Chops, Au gratin Potatoes, Green Beans
Friday
Pizza Night
For more menu ideas, visit Org Junkie.
We worked on our lawn, flower beds and garden for what seems like three solid days. I don't think there is a muscle in my body that doesn't hurt. The second I got up out of bed this morning I had to get moving on my morning walk to loosen up the tight muscles. So very hard to do when you feel like crawling deeper under the covers and sleeping for another hour (or two...)
Garden 2009 Is In
I'm happy to report that our garden is in! This is our first year to try out the black plastic system. What is the black plastic system? Oh, just our fancy way of describing our latest weed reduction gardening technique.
Here's how we did it: We rolled out 800 square of black plastic sheeting over the largest portion of our garden. Mercifully, there was not a breath of wind while we did this part. After we got the plastic sheeting smooth and straight we shoveled dirt all around the perimeter covering the edge where plastic and dirt met to keep wind from getting underneath. George hauled several loads of field stones on his stone boat and placed them all around the edges and along the center seam. We are counting on the rocks as extra insurance to keep the plastic from sailing away in a strong wind.
Bright and early yesterday morning I went out and started cutting a little x' into the plastic everywhere I intended to plant a seed or set a plant start. This was fun for all of 5 minutes. It was at that point I realized we needed several hundred x's. Let's just say George and I took several breaks from our work. About one half of the garden is planted. We have sweet corn, onions, 3 kinds of peppers, beans and peas. We have beets, lettuce, cukes, cantaloupe and tomatoes to transplant once the rain we are fore casted to get this week is over.
Our Lawn
When I lived in town, I had one of the most beautiful lawns in our neighborhood. Anyway, as with most city lawns, it wasn't very big and it was pretty easy to take care of. Really, all I did beside cut it was put down fertilizer a couple of times a year. And then I got married and moved to the country where we have what's called a country lawn. It's huge and it's more weeds than grass. It would be cost and time prohibitive and darn near impossible to rehabilitate our lawn to pristine city lawn levels, plus we just don't care that much. It looks nice and green, George keeps it cut nicely and regularly weed eats around 90 million obstacles. He did all that this weekend, it's about a 6 hour job. After George is done with the lawn we like to sit outside and admire our little redneck country paradise, weeds and all.
Our Flower Beds
We also worked on our flower beds. We have 5 of them and they all needed to be weeded, again. Funny how weeds grow so much faster than flowers. This year, the perennials in the round field stone boarded bed should come in thicker so there will be less of a chance for weeds to gain a foothold. I do plan on adding a few annuals to this bed as well, I just haven't figured out what low growing colourful annual to put in yet. Suggestions anyone for full sun, zone 5 annuals?
The rest of the beds get partial sun to almost full shade. I'm going with impatiens, shasta daises and morning glories. The impatiens that I planted a few weeks ago are quite well established -- they are starting to fill in nicely between the hosta. George built two rustic trellises for the morning glories to climb on. Our hummingbird feeder hangs in the center of one of the trellises. Can't wait to start training the morning glory vines up along the trellis! Adding a vertical element to the garden makes a huge difference.
The Field
George tilled up about 60 -70 feet along the eastern field. We planted several hundred sunflower seeds in this long furrow. These are the massive 10 -13 foot high sunflowers that put on such a beautiful show, plus lots of food for the birds. You can see a picture of one that "volunteered" for the front flower bed last summer, here. All of the seeds we planted came from this one sunflower. Amazing!
From early spring until about now we eagerly look forward to enjoying the quiet evenings in front of the bon fire. We've been piling all of our wood scraps near our bonfire pit in the hopes of an evening that's warm enough for a bon fire. Even though our days can warm up into 70's this time of year, the nights are still pretty cool so we wait until an evening when the temperature is in the 50's.
This weekend we are having my sister and her family over for a bbq and bonfire. Our family get togethers are enjoyable for all because we make sure that nobody is bending over backwards to make a big presentation "for company". So what if the house isn't spotless, the laundry's on the line or the grass needs mowing. (I'm kidding about the grass thing -- my husband really likes to have the lawn cut to keep the mosquitoes down -- since we are outside for the bbq). The general idea is for us ladies to put together some simple food, that doesn't take a lot of time or money so we can be outdoors and enjoy our families.
Here's our Memorial Day BBQ Menu
Grilled Hamburgers, and Brats
Potato Salad
Baked Beans
Corn on the Cob
Chips
Strawberry Pretzel Dessert
My sister, Kendra is every bit as frugal as I am. So I was very surprised to see her keep fancy hand soap in the kitchen. You know the kind -- it smells heavenly, comes in a really pretty bottle and leaves your hands silky soft.
I was even more surprised to see her husband and children use that soap like there's no tomorrow. If I had the expensive fancy soap, I would at least use it sparingly!
Last week my sister and I did our grocery shopping together. As we approached the detergent isle, she said she had to pick up some more hand soap. I thought to myself, you'll never find the terrific stuff you've been using in a grocery store.
Then I saw her take one of the biggest, cheapest bottle of dish detergent off the shelf and place it in her cart! I was absolutely floored. You know what she picked up?
A giant, very cheap bottle of grapefruit scented Ajax dish soap! I would've never guessed it in a million years. She pours it into a fancy bottle and uses it for hand soap! The grapefruit scent is so fresh and clean and it doesn't leave your hands dry so I thought for sure this was some fancy soap that cost $10 or $15 for a little bottle. I can't wait to give it a try
Want to see over a year's worth of money saving tips that work great for our family? Click here.
This post is linked to Lifeasmom
Originally published on 12-5-08
As I mentioned here, I've come across some very good blogs and I enjoy visiting again and again. And, I would like to share a few of them with you today.
Tammy's Recipes is written by Tammy in western Washington. I've been a reader of Tammy's Recipes from day two or three. I first took a look at her site, mostly because I will look at any recipe site at least once; I was hooked immediately. Tammy posts tasty recipes (and photos) that use normal, everyday ingredients with her comments and ratings for each one. I can't even begin to tell you what a cooking inspiration she is to me -- Tammy shares so many creative ideas and tips.
The Hope Blog written by Ingrid Schleuter is one of my new favorites. Ingrid shares about her faith, family and everyday life. You absolutely must read the touching story, Love Brought Me Home written by her son Jonathan about how he joined the Schleuter family through adoption.
There is one post of Ingrid's that has been especially helpful to me: Dealing With Toxic People. I appreciate Ingrid's well balanced approach to how we can protect ourselves from the abuse (and it is abuse, in my opinion) of toxic people. Ingrid writes"
"I am not espousing a self-centered philosophy of “taking care of # 1.” What I am saying is that when we are told that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we are obligated to take care that they are not destroyed by others who are only too happy to do so. "
Click here to read the full post.
Like Merchant Ships written by Meredith. Meredith posts lots of easy, practical (and oh so very creative) ways to save money, use up what you have or creatively re-purpose something. She includes lots of photos about what she's done. Honestly, most of her creative money saving ideas look like they came out of a designer home magazine. Less money, more class. You can't beat that!
One more thing: You will want to check out her Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Tea Sandwiches. These little sandwiches look so good, I plan to try them out for a dessert.
Eyes of Wonder written by Jewels. Jewels is gifted with the talent for making the ordinary seem extraordinary through her photos and recounts of daily life. Her photos have a way of taking me back home and what a wonderful trip it is. The children in homemade dresses, homemade hats, a little girl holding a goat, cutting wood, the whole family gathered to cook, the evening spent enjoying each other's company. One of God's best gifts to us are our families -- nobody illustrates that better than Jewels.
Enjoy!
If you shop at a Kroger affiliated store, Tom Thumb or Randalls, you will want to check out the latest e-coupons just released by Cellfire.
Here's a list of the new coupons. It's so easy to download these right to your shopper's card and start saving money. I usually download all of the coupons so if I run into a great unadvertised bargain there's no wishing I would've downloaded a coupon. My store allows me to stack these e-coupons with paper coupons (which my store doubles) so I've gotten many free products thanks to the Cellfire coupons. Not all stores have the same coupon policy, so be sure to check with your local store.
Go here to download these coupons right to your Kroger Affiliated Shoppers Card, Tom Thumb and Randall's cards.
Lucky Charms® Cereal Save $.55
Chex Mix® or 100 Calorie Snack Save $.60
Knorr® Sides Save $.75 on 2
Best Foods® Save $.60
Betty Crocker® Supreme Brownie Mix Save $.75
Nature Valley Granola® Bars Save $.55
Banana Nut Cheerios® Save $.75
Yoplait® Save $.50
Betty Crocker® Suddenly Salad $.35
Hellmann's® Save $.60
Hamburger Helper® Save $.50
Pillsbury® Toaster Strdl Save $.50
Yoplait® Kids Save $.80
Vaseline® Lotions Save $1
This post is linked to WFMW.
J.D. Roth from Get Rich Slowly has a great post up at MSN blog Smart Money entitled The New Age of Thrift.
J. D writes
"Over the past few months, the mainstream media have been filled with stories about the "New Frugals" and the return to thrift. People who once lived beyond their means, financing their lifestyle with debt, have "found religion." They've begun to embrace frugality, and have discovered the joy that can come through spending less.
Not everyone is happy about this. The March issue of Redbook contained an article called "How to benefit from the recession," which profiled how four women are coping with the recession. The story prompted the following letter to the editor in the May issue:
While I love Redbook, something in your article ... rubbed me the wrong way. When describing the economic crunch, after rightfully blaming the banks and consumers who were charging more than they should have, the author wrote, "Basically, we'd all been spending way more than we could afford." I don't appreciate being in the same category as overspenders. I am frugal with every cent, and I use every item to its utmost capacity simply because I don't believe in waste of any kind. I always will be like that, regardless of the economy. Even though we're all in this together, not everybody contributed to the country's financial mess. -- Darcy Bailey, Mount Holly, N.C.
I've heard similar sentiments from GRS readers -- and from my wife. To a degree, I sympathize. None of us wants to pay for the mistakes of others. When people make poor choices, they ought to face the consequences.
Still, I'm happy to see so many people discovering frugality."
Click here to read the remainder of J.D's very well written post on frugality.
My View of the Newly Frugal
I too have noticed a huge upswing in people becoming interested in the frugal lifestyle. All of a sudden radio stations, newspapers and television networks are clamoring to run a special on how to save money. The media is pulling out all the stops to line up clips of money saving mommy bloggers paying .92 cents for $100 worth of groceries. Financial gurus Dave Ramsey and Clark Howard get top billing on the networks -- it seems like they are on every time you turn around.
As someone that's always been frugal I am thrilled to see a whole new group of people exploring the frugal lifestyle and moving towards spending less than they earn! It's wonderful to see the freedom that spending less than you earn brings to people. It's as if they are developing a new reality for themselves and their families. It's not about the cars, the house, the electronics, the trips, the name brands or whatever we tell ourselves we deserve because we work so hard.
Are They Spending Less and Saving More Just Because it's Cool?
Um, no. I think most of the newly frugal are embracing this new-to-them lifestyle because they they have to do it and because they believe they can do it. As they say, experience is the best teacher: people often times do not come to the realization that spending more than you make and not saving for a rainy day is a very serious problem until their income dries up.
Many of my friends are busy working moms that struggle with the idea they are too busy to develop a frugal lifestyle. But, they are happily finding out that taking steps to save money doesn't take as much time as they thought. You should see the excitement on their faces as they tell me they saved $20 on their last grocery bill or found a way to use something they already have instead of buy new.
We are trading coupons and sharing how to get the best coupon/sale price match ups at the grocery store. Just this morning a good friend eagerly suggested we start a coupon club at work. We rejoice over all the free samples we get and those great high dollar coupons. This winter a girl friend was able to replace her 5 year old winter coat with a very nice, high quality coat at a drastically reduced end of season clearance sale. She was beaming as she told me about the deal. I was overjoyed for her and congratulated her on her resolve to wait to buy a coat until she found one priced within her budget.
It is so exciting to see the newly frugal figuring out what being frugal means to them and how it can enrich their lives. The newbies are ecstatic to find out they have the power to control their money instead of the other way around.
Yep, it's a good thing.
Sunday
Meatloaf, Squash, Sugar Snap Peas, Biscuits
Monday
Goulash, Garden Salad
Tuesday
Fish Fry Night
Wednesday
Quick & Tasty Mexican Casserole
Thursday
Grilled Steak, Baked Potatoes, Broccoli
Friday
Eating Out -- Not sure where
Click here to see two years' worth of my menus
For even more menu ideas, visit Org Junkie.
I've been so eager to do some outdoor gardening these past few weeks. Last weekend I planted a flat of impatiens in two shady areas up close to the house. We first tried impatiens last year and they looked stunning -- so much colour and so little work! It looks like impatiens are our new favorite shade plant. While at the nursery, I also picked up 2 fairly good sized tomato plants. If they do well, we should be eating tomatoes about a month earlier than we planned. You can't beat that.
Here in our area of Michigan, the last frost date is May 31st, but we always get ahead of ourselves and start planting as soon as the ground dries out enough to plow up the garden. That means we have to check the weather daily to see if we will get a frost, but it's worth it -- we are just so happy to be growing something.
Gardening is a Learning Experience
This will be our third year gardening on this property. Gardening is a constant learning process. Each year we evaluate what worked and what didn't. The past two years, we haven't had good luck with our tomatoes or sweet corn, which is a pretty big disappointment because we both love tomatoes and fresh sweet corn. It was a little aggravating to have to buy tomatoes and corn when we put so much work into growing our own. However, our onions did great. Onions are something we use a lot of around here so it was nice to have a whole supply laid in for the winter -- we just finished using the last onion a few weeks ago!
One of our goals is to figure out the best "gardening system" for us. (Isn't that every gardener's goal?) Each year we find ourselves spending more time than we like on weeding, it gets to the point where we are not very excited about our garden come the end of July. We also have a serious mosquito problem because the garden is near our "pond" and tall grass areas. This year we plan to try out the black plastic approach. Once we've established what plants go where and laid out the soaker hoses we will lay down rolls of black plastic. After cutting slits and holes for where the plants go we will set in the plants and seeds and look forward to a summer that is not filled to the brim with weeding. Hopefully this works out as planned. We still haven't come up with a good solution for the mosquitoes. We welcome any tips you may have!
Gardening Does Not Have To Cost A Lot
One good outcome of this tough economic climate is that I'm seeing more and more people take up gardening. Unfortunately many of these new gardeners are under the impression they have to spend a lot of money to get started. Lately I've been reading the efforts of bloggers that are trying their hand at the square foot gardening technique. It's a great technique, especially if you have limited space, but for goodness sake it isn't necessary to spend several hundred dollars on supplies. Wasn't the purpose of taking up gardening to save money?!
We don't put a lot of money into our gardening endeavors. We could if we wanted to -- there are enough gardening catalogs and stores clamouring for our money! To us it just seems a little silly to spend 3 or 4 times what the produce would cost in the store or at a farm stand for the privilege of growing our own. We do have a few splurges though, like a couple of larger sized tomato plants so we can start eating tomatoes sooner. Here in Michigan you can't get plants that big this time of year without some sort of green house and lots of babying. We start most everything else from seeds or the teeny tiny plant starts.
All totalled, we spend around $50 to $60 per year on our vegetable garden, which is far less than we would spend on produce if we bought it. Of course, we don't count our labor and we all know gardening is a lot of work! But we really enjoy it, so it's worth it to us. This year we plan to spend about $100 to $150 extra so we can purchase some black plastic and a few soaker hoses. Even when you include the extra one time purchases, we will still come out ahead financially from our garden endeavors -- unless all the crops are a total loss. And with gardening you never know. We put the seeds in the ground, take good care of them and hope for the best.
I'm a big fan of Qdoba. If you've never been to Qdoba, you don't know what you're missing. They have these giant burritos topped with every kind of delicious topping you can imagine. You have the option of ordering their burritos "naked", which is just the insides of the burrito in a dish. You can forgo the tortilla all together or enjoy it on the side. I've never had anything from the Qdoba that I didn't like.
After extolling the virtues of Qdoba food, here's where I mention the only drawback: it ain't cheap.
One day while eating their Ancho Chile Burrito -- served Naked Style, I started lamenting the fact that I couldn't make the same thing at home for less. And then it occurred me to ask myself, why I thought I couldn't make it at home. Ahhhh the light bulb moments. Sometimes they result in ideas that make you a millionaire over night or a great new recipe. I quickly concocted a recipe for Quick and Tasty Mexican Casserole.
Last week I tried out the new recipe for the first time. My husband just loved it. As a matter of fact, he said he wouldn't mind eating it once a week, which is high praise from him. So I'm sharing it here for you folks.
The basic recipe is very simple. This dish is mostly about the toppings. Who wouldn't like rice, beans and chicken once you've topped it with a myriad of deliciousness?
See that 8x8 casserole dish to the right? It never saw the oven. After heating the rice, beans and chicken separately I layered them in the dish starting with the rice and ending with the chicken to make serving easier.
Quick and Tasty Mexican Casserole
1 cup of uncooked white rice
1 15 oz can of black beans (drained)
2 cups cooked diced chicken
1/2 cup bbq sauce
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 cup of water
Toppings of Your Choice
We like the following:
diced onion
sliced black olives
diced tomatoes (you could also use pico de gallo)
salsa
sour cream
cheddar cheese
guacamole
Because the toppings are what really make this recipe great, the first thing to do is figure out what toppings you would like to top this casserole with and get those set up into serving dishes.
Following package directions, cook one cup of white rice until done . (Make sure to wash the rice several times if you don't want sticky rice). While the rice is cooking, take 2 cups of pre-cooked diced chicken and place in a medium sauce pan. Then add 1/2 cup of your favorite bbq sauce, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp chile powder and 1/2 cup of water to the saucepan. Heat on med-low until mixed well and the sauce is hot. The sauce should be fairly thin. Warm the black beans until hot.
Once the rice is cooked, and the chicken and black beans are hot, layer these items into an 8x8 baking dish: rice first, then beans, then chicken. You have the option of serving each of these items in their own separate dishes but I like to use the one dish method. Easier to serve and less clean up.
Set out the "casserole" and all the toppings and have everyone dish up their own. This recipe would be good served with tortilla chips and queso dip, but it is so filling you don't really need any sides at all.
Here's a photo of how everything looks before you serve it up.
Yes, I really did eat all this. Was it ever good. 
I realized I haven't shared a detailed grocery shopping trip with you in quite awhile. After last week's major stock up trip for meat, this week's trip will be mostly to pick up some odds and ends and to stock up on a great cereal deal. As soon as I've finished making out the list, I'll post it here for you with a price and coupon breakdown.
--Hot Coupons--
This week's printable coupons are some of the best I have ever seen! I think the manufacturers are finally learning that we consumers like to save money. Links to some of the best ones are below. I'm posting them now, and will post them again -- along with any new ones I find when I put up the grocery trip post.
$1 off Nabisco 100 calorie snack packs (this is one of the best ones!)
$1 off Miracle Whip
$1 off Kraft Mayo
$1 off Triscuit Crackers
$1 off Kraft Cheese
$1 off CoolWhip
$1 off Planters Nuts
(you will want to make sure to print the Triscuit Crackers and Kraft cheese coupons if you shop at Meijer. Meijer is running a fantastic promo this on Triscuit Crackers and Kraft Cheese. We are looking at pretty close to free for a whole bunch of cheese and crackers!
3 Ways You Can Find Great Internet Coupons
This is Blastro. Believe it or not, it's street legal. Isn't this the coolest Astro
van you have ever seen. I'm just sorry I couldn't get a better photo. This van
is hauled in a trailer that is almost a cool as the car.
Interior shot of Blastro. Not big on creature comforts,
but I guess you don't really need a cup holder in a
race car.
These types of cars are interesting because the whole body
lifts up. Many racers bring a whole 'nother body with them in
case they wreck. The big time racers also bring enough parts
to build a whole new car from scratch-- engine and everything.
I find that amazing, considering it might be an all day project
for me to change the oil.
My all time favorite type of vehicle at any drag race is
the jet powered variety. They make lots of noise and go
super fast and there's fire. Lots and lots of fire. A girl couldn't
want anything more.
The jet vehicles are what's called an Exhibition Vehicle. They don't race to see who
wins. The track hires them to come and put on a big show to entice more
people to buy a ticket to the races. Much to my disappointment
these jet vehicles only run twice at any event I've ever gone to.
This vehicle is from Les Shockley's ShockWave line of jet vehicles.
Do you see how much fire that is? Awesome!
Here he is gearing up to take off. This particular vehicle
has two jet engines and burns 100 gallons of diesel for
each run.
You see a lot of old 60's and early 70's muscle cars.
This is another exhibition vehicle. It does wheel stands.
Please note, while this vehicle is neat, it is not nearly as
fun because there is only a very small amount of fire.
One interesting thing to note about the tires on this vehicle.
The entire tire is completely smooth -- no tread of any kind. The tire
walls are so lax that they are wrinkled. That's the Trixie description.
The official description is Wrinkle Wall Drag Slicks. It's weird to think
that you could drive anywhere on tires like that.
This is an ancient history dragster from the 1970's. Dragsters
look very different today and are built with more safety features.
This car was probably the least safe car out of any we've ever seen at
any racing event. If anything goes wrong in this vehicle you are as
good as dead. I'm not sure if this car was for exhibition or was racing.
That's George talking to the driver in the background. He wants to sit in it but
is hesitant to ask. He likes stuff that goes fast as much as I do.
This photo goes with the one above. Look at the bright pink
parachute in the photo above -- that's where the driver sits.
You cannot see the racetrack when racing. What you see
in this photo is all you see while you are going 200 miles per hour.
Racers have many occupational hazards. In this car (same one as
above) the driver is literally sitting on the gear box. Gear boxes frequently
blow up. See that metal thingy that looks like a handle at the top of
the photo? That's the steering wheel. Not very luxurious are they?
*Regarding the slogan on the gear box above.
Boys and boys and men are grown up boys.
I thought it was hilarious.
There are many great Redneck sporting events -- such as mud bogging, monster truck rallies, nascar, demolition derbys and tractor pulls. We've hussled around and got all our chores for the day completed and fretted over whether the rain would stop in time. Thankfully it's clearing up nicely and we are off to one of our favorite redneck sporting events -- drag racing.
I just need to pack a cooler with some drinks and sandwiches and make sure we have a thermos of coffee and we will be on our way to having enjoying a fun evening. Pictures to follow after we've had a nap tomorrow afternoon. It's going to be a late evening.
Have a great weekend.
Preparing the meat portion of our meals ahead of time is the #1 thing that helps me put a home cooked supper on the table in no time flat on busy weeknights. Preparing meat takes time and that's something many women are lacking now-a-days. (Did I just say now-a-days? I sound just like my Grandma: )
Knowing the most time consuming part of the meal is already done, also keeps me from running to get take out. We all know take out isn't cheap and it's usually not as healthy for us as a home cooked meal. Pre-prepping meat saves a bundle of time and money.
Our grocery store was running a pretty good sale on ground round and pork loin this week. The freezer is still pretty well stocked but I bought some meat partly because it was on a good sale, but most importantly, because I had the time to prepare it today.
Here's what I bought:
5.71 lbs Angus ground round for $1.99 per pound; total $11.36
4.15 lbs Whole pork loin for $1.79 per pound; total $7.42
I used one package of ground round to make Italian meatballs and one package to make meatloaf. It is so handy to have pre-cooked meatballs in the freezer. They make a fantastic meatball sub and they are always a delicious addition to spaghetti.
I like to serve meatloaf when I'm craving a comfort food meal but am not in the mood to cook. Re-heating your own pre-cooked meatloaf and microwaving a few potatoes is the next best thing to going over to Mom's and plopping yourself down at her dinner table. We also eat the meatloaf in meatloaf sandwich form. Talk about good. It's up in the air how we will use this particular meatloaf. A sandwich sounds pretty good about now....
Okay, here's a photo of everything I'll need to get the meat prepped for cooking and for the freezer. I use one recipe for the meatballs and the meatloaf. It makes life so much easier. The recipe is at the bottom of this post. I like to put cooked meat into ziplock freezer bags but I've found Freezer Paper works best for fresh meat. That's what I'll use for the hamburger patties and pork chops.
You will want to make sure you've got scotch tape handy and that you've cut off a whole bunch of pieces and stuck them to the edge of the counter. You don't want to get your tape dispenser all full of meat germs. My roll of scotch tape grew legs and ran away, so I used packaging tape. (There is a small chance I didn't put the scotch tape away in it's proper place the last time I used it, but I'm going with the grew legs thing.)
Here is the grossest part in my opinion. It's 4 pounds of beef mixed up with all the ingredients you see in the photo above. It feels yucky, but it's actually easiest to mix all this with your bare hands; all the ingredients get incorporated better and faster. Just wash real good and make sure not to wear any rings.
When mixing meat with your hands there is another important thing to consider. The very second your hands touch the meat, the phone will ring, someone will be waiting at the door, your husband or kids will need something right now. If by some miracle none of those things happen, you will develop an irresistible itch, your hair will fall into your eyes, your sleeve will fall down. I don't think I've ever mixed up a batch of meatloaf without at least one of these things happening.
Here's the pan of meatballs and the meatloaf ready to go into the oven. I'll be honest; there are a lot of things I enjoy more than spending 15 minutes rolling a pan full of meatballs. But because I like quick supper of meatballs swimming in marinara sauce atop a pile of spaghetti or tucked inside a meatball sub I get right down to business and start rolling.
I found this on Susan's blog, By Grace. I enjoyed reading Susan's responses --stop by and check hers out. Be sure to leave a comment if you do this to.
First Job: Egg Route Entrepreneur. Loved it right down the little pass book savings account
First Real Job: Checker in a rinky-dink (by today’s standards) grocery store.
First Favorite Politician: Really – does discussing the drawbacks of politicians count? My dad’s favorite politician was Harry Truman. He was so thrilled that the underdog won. Till his dying day, my dad kept a copy of a newspaper with a photo of the triumphant Truman holding up a paper with the Dewy Wins! Headline. My husband’s grandfather was the spitting image of Harry Truman. I also read a biography of him and it seems like he was a very down to earth man. So, you can see where I’m going with this; Truman it is.
First Car: 1974 Oldsmobile Cutlass – piece of junk but at least it was all one colour, which is a lot more than I can say about my second car.
First Record/CD: Eh, can’t remember. I’m not a big music collector.
First Sport Played: Yeah, right. I can barely manage to walk and talk at the same time.
First Concert: Carmen in 1988 or ‘89
First Foreign Country Visited: Does Canada count?
First Favorite TV Show: Little House on the Prairie. Amen.
First Favorite Actor: Does He-Man count? If not, it’s the Duke boys.
First Favorite Actress: Melissa Gilbert
First Girlfriend/Boyfriend: Brad Walker. I fell in as much love as a 6 year old can because Brad’s family had a wrap around porch and a pool.
First Encounter with a Famous Person: None that I know of.
First Brush With Death: When I was 15 I was walking on an old abandoned railroad bridge and nearly fell through a hole. It was the first time I ever thought of my own mortality.
First House/Condo Owned: A darling little cape cod style “fixer-upper” – 2 beds, 1 bath, backyard with a steep slope, nice neighborhood and close to work. Loved that little home. Only moved to marry my sweetie and live in the country.
First Film Seen: In elementary school we saw all kinds of classics that I still love – Swiss Family Robinson, Dr. DooLittle, Herbie movies, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, etc.
First Favorite Recording Artist: Not sure
First Favorite Radio Station: Again not sure
First Book I Remember Reading: Little House on the Prairie. I could not read very well at all. By the 2nd grade I was really struggling at it was affecting the rest of my schoolwork. One day before school let out for the year, I checked out several Little House books because they had a little country girl on the cover. The first book was so interesting even from just the few words I could read that I learned how to read in just a couple of months. Had to know the rest of her story.
First Meme You Answered on Your Blog: Not sure, I don’t do many of these.
Cell Fire has put out 21 hot new e-coupons. It's quick and easy to download these to your Kroger card and save some bucks on your next grocery store trip. For more information on how I use these coupons to save money, click here.
This week CellFire has a terrific coupon for $3 off Huggies. If you or anyone you know has a need for diapers, you won't want to miss this coupon. You can also get a printable $3 off Huggies coupon here.
Go here to download your instant coupons.
Pillsbury® Tstr Strdl Save $.50
Hamburger Helper® Save $.50
Nature Valley® Bars Save $.55
BC® Supreme Brownie Save $.75
Lucky Charms® Cereal Save $.55
Chex Mix® or Snack Save $.60
Betty Crocker® Salad Save $.35
Yoplait® Save $.50
Yoplait® Kids Save $.80
Banana Nut Cheerios® Save $.75
Cottonelle® Save $.25
Huggies® Diapers SAVE $3
Kotex® Save $1
Axe Hair Save $1.50
Ben & Jerry's Save $.75
Knorr® Sides Save $.75 on 2
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Hellmann's® Save $.60
Speed Stick 24/7 Save $.75
Colgate Total Advanc Save $.75
Vaseline® Lotions Save $1
This past week my grocery store ran a terrific stock up sale on boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I couldn't resist the urge to stock up my freezer with a good amount of cooked, chopped chicken. Having the chicken already prepared makes for such quick, healthy suppers. I picked up ten pounds of the chicken breast on Saturday and then cooked them up Sunday night. It's so easy to do! I placed all the meat on a large baking pan, drizzled a little olive oil and added a liberal amount of Mrs. Dash. Then I added a cup of water, covered the whole pan with foil and baked for an hour and a half. Once the meat cooled I went to town chopping some of it for casseroles, slicing some for fajitas and shredding the remainder for bbq chicken sandwiches.
We now have the makings of several meals all ready to go. Here's our menu for the week.
Monday
Chicken Fajitas, Peach & Blueberry Cobbler
Tuesday
Sheppard's Pie, Garden Salad
Wednesday
Turkey Sandwiches, Fresh Veggies
Thursday
Mexican Casserole (this is a new recipe I'm concocting. I'll post a pic and the recipe once I've got it figured out)
Friday
Homemade Pizza (If all goes as planned, I will be testing out a new whole wheat dough -- will keep you in the loop on this too)
Breakfasts this week will be shredded wheat cereal, oatmeal, yougurt and fruit, apple and peanut butter and the last homemade english muffin egg/cheese and ham sandwich.
Lunches will be leftover Sheppard's Pie, Pizza, Turkey Sandwich, Salad, twice. I don't normally ever eat dessert at lunch time but I can guarantee you that I WILL be eating a portion of the peach blueberry cobbler.
For more menu ideas, visit Org Junkie.
You know you are a redneck if you've ever celebrated graduation by dining out in high style at the local truck stop.
When I was growing up it was a rare treat to eat a meal in a restaurant. Our little country town didn't have much in the way of restaurants; there was the local bar and a couple of truck stops. When I was five they put in a McDonalds, which turned out to be the talk of the town for years.
Once a month when we went to do our "big" shopping at Kmart and the JC Penny catalogue store in a larger nearby town, Daddy would sometimes take us to one of the "fancier" restaurants. You should've seen us kids -- we would start hopping up and down and squealing with excitement in the back of our AMC Hornet Wagon at the possibility of going to a nicer restaurant. The two nicer restaurants we had to choose from were a very large truck stop and a Big Boy. I am not kidding, we led very sheltered lives. We celebrated my sister's high school graduation by eating at a truck stop.
And so the saga continues. I'm still eating at truck stops. Out here we don't have a lot of restaurant choices close to home -- especially restaurants that put out a breakfast buffet that my husband loves so much. Once or twice a month after church we go for breakfast at the truck stop closest to our house. Nothing against truck stops, but this truck stop is all you imagine a truck stop is: smoky, greasy food, dirty, old. Did I mention smoky? At this restaurant you have to wipe the table down before seating yourself in the non-smoking section that is situated directly between the two smoking sections. The ladies' room counter is covered in cigarette burns. A dilapidated perfume dispenser dispenses cheap 1970's perfume. For 75 cents you can stand next to the rusty machine as it sprays you with Jovan Musk.
It came as no surprise to us that our local truck stop closed it's doors this week. My husband was quite disappointed because it meant the end of buffet food directly on the route home. I was thrilled, thinking this might mean we could start going to a restaurant where food isn't served up hogs at a trough style. I am easily deceived. There was no way short of hell freezing over that my husband was going to go without a breakfast buffet. So we found another truck stop close to home. It's only a few miles off our route home from church.
The new truck stop is a fairly new establishment. It's like a smaller, lower class, smoky-ier version of Cracker Barrel. Even though the meals are a little more expensive than our old truck stop; I like to think of it as a bargain price because I'm not breathing in as much smoke as I did at our old truck stop. My lungs thank the Smokeaters at our new truck stop.
And so, it looks like my husband and I have begun a long term relationship with our new truck stop. As pathetic as that sentence sounds; in a way it makes me feel good. Dining at a truck stop brings back a lot of nostalgia for me. I have so many happy memories of our whole family sitting around a truck stop table visiting with the other customers that we knew from the community and enjoying the rare treat of a meal eaten away from home. It reminds me that no matter how far away I get from my dirty-little-redneck-farm-kid childhood, I haven't lost what counts. I am just as delighted to sit down and enjoy breakfast with my husband at a ratty truck stop as I would be if he took me to a four star restaurant.
Some of my favorite recipes come from the websites of manufacturers. I've gotten countless casserole ideas, tasty meatless meals and healthy cooking tips. The only problem is that I tend to forget to look up the websites and search for new recipes. So, lately I've been having them email me recipe ideas. I'm signed up for about every food site you can think of and am amazed at the wide variety of tasty recipes.
If you like Bisquick and want to learn some great new dishes to make with Bisquick, you can sign up for thee Bisquick newsletter here.
