Hopeful Housewife

Ok, maybe not a *miracle* but pretty close.

I go through a TON of Mason Jars. I never seem to have enough of them, in fact.

I have a feeling that wont be a problem for a while now.

A few weeks ago I went down to my favorite thrift store in “town”. I dont get to go very often anymore but the hubs and I had a few minutes while we were “down the hill” (as us mountain folks say) and we stopped in for a peek. I was looking for mason jars, but only found two. I know the manager of the store because of my frequent shopping there when we lived in town so I stopped to chat with her a bit. I told her I was looking for Mason jars and she asked for our number so she could call me when some came in.

Well, some came in.

And by some, I mean more than some.

She said she had a trashcan full, and some boxes.

I forgot to take pics of the trashcan…but it was a huge, outdoor rubbermaid style trash can FULL of 1/2 gallon jars. all of these plus a dishwasher load full of more.

Then we have these:

and two more boxes worth that I had already moved to the dishwasher:

I have already washed about 80 jars and haven’t even touched the ones on the floor yet.

I am on my 2nd dishwashing cycle of the day, and I suspect I have about 3 or 4 more to go. I really think I have close to 200 jars.

I paid $10.00 for all of them.

Neighbor Extraordinaire (thats her official title) just spent like an hour and a half helping me wash and put away. We hardly put a dent in it. I have no idea where I am going to put them all, but I SO dont care. I will figure it out.

In the meantime, I am going to keep on washin’.

Happy Monday All!

It is no secret that beans are a cheap, healthy food. It is also no secret that dry beans are even cheaper than the canned ones…and not lined with BPA laden plastic, which is nice.

I haven’t bought beans in over 3 months. Why? You ask? Because of our community food system.

By system I mean, someone keeps leaving beans here:

Right on top of the mailboxes at the corner. I leave them there for a bit to see if anyone else wants em’, and then I snatch em’ up. Yep, I’m shameless.

If you are not fortunate enough to have beans magically appear in your neighborhood, have no fear. They are CHEAP. Like .50 cents a pound cheap if you shop right. Sometimes even cheaper. If you see them cheap, buy them up. They last a long time.

Speaking of long time, they also take a really long time to cook. Therefore, if you are going to take the time to cook them, you (I) usually want to make it worth it by making an entire pot. Then you (I) typically find that people get sick of them and you are left with a bunch o’ beans with no where to go. It’s a sad, sad life the unwanted bean has.

Save the trouble. Can a large batch and have a quart ready to go whenever you wish.

But only if you have a pressure canner. If you don’t, you may have to deal with orphaned beans.

If you have a pressure canner, it is a simple job:

Soak beans in cold water for 12-18 hours. Really. Do it. Dont skip this.

Drain the beans, rinse once more, then add to a large pot. Cover with water (maybe about 2-3 inches over the beans) and bring to a boil. Keep them boiling hard for 30 minutes, stirring frequently to make sure they aren’t sticking and therefore burning. Burnt beans are gross and have no purpose whatsoever.

While beans are boiling, wash your quart size jars, lids and rings in hot hot hot water. Prepare your canning funnel and other supplies. When beans have boiled for 30 minutes, start packin’. Yes, the beans are uncooked still. That’s a good thing. The pressure canning will finish the cooking process without turning them to mush. Pack the beans without liquid at first. Leave about two inches of headspace. Add 1 tsp salt, and cover with some of your bean water so that you now have about an inch and a half of headspace. Wipe rims, and cap.

Once all are capped and ready to go, follow the instructions on your canner for pressure canning. Process beans for about 90 minutes at 10 pounds pressure. 75 minutes if using pint jars.

Once all are sealed, you are good to go. Stack em on your pantry shelf and admire your abilities.

I think I will post-mark mine.

I am in cleaning hyperdrive. I cannot believe what a mess everything is. I am in declutter mode too, so I am finding myself with even bigger piles of who-knows-what everywhere. Definitely in that “Gonna get worse before it gets better” phase of cleaning.

That said, I can’t cancel dinner time. Opening a bag of frozen fish sticks would have been a solution in the past, but these days, I don’t have the convenience factor to work with.

SO…

Chicken Dijon is the solution.

It is just the girls and I tonight so I will make a small batch with two chicken breasts that I had in the freezer.

Cube chicken breasts (boneless skinless works best) and brown in butter. Season with salt, pepper and garlic and cook until chicken is cooked inside and brown on the outside. Remove chicken from pan and set aside. Save all the drippings in the pan. If the pan is relatively dry, add a few more pats of butter. For four chicken breasts, I use about 1/2 a stick of butter to start with and add more if needed at this stage.

To the butter, add 1-2 tablespoons of dijon mustard and whisk to combine. Add just enough flour to coat the pan, and whisk vigorously until a roux is formed. Add about a quart of water, season with more salt, pepper, and garlic, and continue whisking until it is smooth. Reduce heat, and allow to thicken, whisking frequently. Once desired thickness is achieved (I like mine like a nice gravy) add a splash (maybe a half cup or less) or milk, half and half or cream and whisk to combine. Add the chicken back, simmer for another five minutes or so, and serve hot over rice. Add salt, pepper and/or garlic as your tastes desire. I LOVE this with sauteed spinach.

To make sauteed spinach, add a pat of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil to a pan. To this, add a clove or two of finely minced garlic. Lightly sautee the garlic, then add an entire bag (or about two bunches) of spinach leaves. Toss to coat, then remove from heat. As the butter/olive oil mix touches the spinach, it will begin to wilt. Leaving it much longer will just make mooshy, overcooked spinach.

Here is the breakdown on the meal:

Chicken breasts were on sale last time I shopped. A package of ten was ten dollars, making each breast a dollar a piece. I got the dijon mustard for .75 cents with a coupon, and will only be using a small bit. Factor in butter, rice (.45 cents a pound in bulk…and I will be using roughly 3 cups), a small bit of whole milk, garlic, spices, and  the spinach at 1.99 cents a bag,   and I still come in under $8.00 for the meal. Tonights will only be $4.00 for me because I am cooking for half the amount of people.

This recipe comes together in about 20 minutes which is great news for me because I will need the extra time to find my dining room table.

If only I could find my magic wand…

Found a “You Pick” berry farm nearby. Tomorrow, the hubs and I are heading out to hopefully pick about 20 pounds of blueberries. At 2 bucks a pound, we want to stock up! The plan is to freeze some, dehydrate some, and can the rest. The kids are planning on spending the morning with my amazing neighbor, “S”. I have tried to convince the kids to come along, but they are excited to have a day to play with their friends.

Blueberry picking reminds me of one of my favorite children’s books, Blueberries For Sal. Such a sweet book. Makes me miss the kids being tiny though. I am secretly hoping our youngest asks to come along at the last minute. Even if she doesn’t, I know she will be right there in the kitchen packing Mason Jars this week. She is a kitchen whiz, that kid…always has been. Maybe one day I will have enough of my own blueberry bushes to have the kids alongside me picking.

You Pick…and Me Too.

I can only hope.

We went down the hill today. We came back with bark for the flowerbeds, some thrift store finds, and surprisingly, without bologna. Kinda proud of the hubs.

As we were heading down I noticed that my favorite fruit stand is officially open for business. They are open for most of the summer, selling peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots, nuts, and dried fruits. Ever had mango flavored dried pineapple?! Yeah, I hadn’t either and had no idea my life was incomplete before it.

Another two miles down the road and I see that another fruit stand is open for business. It’s official. Summer is here! Gosh I love tree fruit.

Then I started thinking. I bet there are people who have never seen a nectarine on a tree. I am willing to bet there are folks who have NO IDEA what a fresh piece of stone fruit tastes like. I am reminded every summer how blessed we are to live here. I will try to remember that when it is 110 degrees outside.

Heading out of our small town I took mental notes of all the things that make our community special. The fruit stands sparked it, and my favorite kind are called “honor stands”. Basically, there are stands set up on the side of the roads (or backroads if you are from here. ) with fresh produce available. On the stand there will be a locked box for you to drop your money in. Hence, “honor stand”. Its a brilliant idea. I am sure not everyone has the honor to follow the obvious rules, but overall, I think people are honest and drop their cash.

Here is one that only sells citrus up here. Citrus is mostly a late fall/winter crop, so they are not open right now.

Citrus is not in season, as I said, but the groves are so nice to look at. Here is one of the larger ones on our way home. Excuse the tall grass….I wasn’t gonna get any closer…rattlesnakes scare me.

I love this one because you can get oranges, tangerines, and sometimes lemons for 3.00 or less a bag. Buy local, save money!

We have many, many honor stands up here, but this one happened to be on the way home. Some have garden veggies, some have fruit, and some even have eggs. I really love buying from my community and especially love the money I save.

Back to my favorite fruit stand. Not an honor stand, but an amazing selection of stone fruit. Everything is .99 cents a pound, so you can mix and match whatever fruit you want. It is an incredible deal as stone fruit can sometimes be upwards of 3.00 a pound in the stores. This stand has become a big tourist attraction, so I tend to try and shop during the week, and load up while I am there.

My favorite part is their washing well. It allows you to eat a piece on your way home.

As I drove away, I spotted fruit being hauled away straight from the tree. Bet there are lots of people that have never seen what goes into picking fruit. Honestly, if people knew what went into growing and harvesting the food we eat, it would be appreciated so much more. Excuse the side mirror.

Fruit on the tree:

Grapes will be late summer:

We will likely buy corn from this farmer in a couple months:

(Doesn’t look like much, but trust me, it is an amazing variety that is worth far more than the pennies he charges for it!)

I realize that not everyone will have this type of produce at their fingertips this summer. That said, I am willing to bet there is something local that your community offers or specializes in. Check out what your neighbors are offering…see how you can support them, and save money on as well. You might be surprised by what you find.

You could call it “My husband is begging for a cheat day, 5/26/12″.

He woke me up to tell me he REALLY wanted to go to town to get some bark to fill our front flower beds. Then he confessed that he also really wanted to get some bologna, white bread, cheese singles and bbq chips. He tried to pump me up about this idea, but failed. I told him I understood cravings and that he should go for it. I, myself, cannot even imagine eating bologna at this stage in the game. Not because I don’t think of it occassionally, but because I know I will feel sick after I eat it. Funny how the body adjusts to what you are eating. It seems to adjust either way. We ate crap food for years and never had an issue. Now I don’t, and I swear I can hardly touch anything cheat worthy anymore. I have to REALLY want something to make it worth the bellyache.

So we will head to town today. Get some bark for our flowerbeds (that area currently full of weeds, ugh!), get some processed cheese food, bologna, bbq chips, white bread and some free time too, as his mama is gonna visit with the kiddos for a bit. I think Our middle child is gonna stay with us. MIL is talking movie with the kids, but our oldest daughter finds the giant screen pretty overwhelming. I don’t get my kids to myself very often, so it will be nice to be alone with our sweet girl. I will likely have a jamba juice for lunch. I don’t like the idea of soy in my food (and so much of their stuff has it) but I will try to navigate their menu a bit.

We finished up breakfast a bit ago, and I am already seeing a pattern.

Kids and I had homemade oatmeal, made with a bit of milk, topped with cinnamon, butter, honey, and a drizzle of maple syrup. I ate mine with a side of fresh strawberries that the hubs brought home from a road-side stand. He brought a HUGE flat. Like 20 little green baskets huge. He paid 15 bucks. Sounds like a lot, but trust me, they are WORTH IT. Best.berries.ever.  I haven’t yet sold the kids on strawberries, but for now will enjoy the fact that I don’t have to share.

 (The milk is fine, folks…its just cream top)

The hubs had leftover pulled pork. On white hot dog buns. With habanero cheddar. And hot sauce. He misses white bread I am sure. Sometimes I don’t blame him.

Lunch for the kids will be taken care of by the MIL. I am sure the kids will make a cute face and get something kids love. I really don’t mind. Food rules are off when the kids are with friends or grandparents. We are not purists.

I will likely stick with Jamba. The hubs just might make a cheater sandwich in the Wal*Mart parking lot.

Dinner will have us back on track. Grass fed organic ground beef, seasoned and made into patties that will be served up with roasted veggies (potatoes, carrots and asparagus) and corn on the cob.

Sounds expensive. It really isn’t. Ground beef at the typical market right now is almost 4.00 a pound. The meat I bought was 5.25 a pound. I don’t see that 1.25 extra as much of an increase. Especially when you consider all the other foods we no longer buy. One pound will feed our family a few small patties each (no one really wants more than that), and with all the yummy veggies, it will be plenty. I season the meat with worchtechire (sp!?!?), salt, pepper, garlic, and a bit of half and half to keep it moist. Make into patties, pan fry in a bit of olive oil and butter (so the olive oil doesnt burn) and you are done. The veggies consist of red potatoes (1.69 for a five pound bag this week!), asparagus (1.50 a bundle) and some carrots which were .99 cents for ORGANIC this week too. Corn was 8 for a dollar at Winco here, so we are gonna feast on that too. If you count the butter we will be using, dinner is still less than $10.00.

Dessert will involve strawberries. It kinda has to.

I don’t mind a cheater day. I think we need them sometimes to remind us why we stopped eating that stuff.

Plus, sometimes you can’t beat a bologna sandwich.

Happy Cheater Day.

Haven’t done one of these here in a while!! Super excited.

In our quest to eat better, we have given up almost all convenience food. This includes cereal. All cereal. Not just the ones that make your children act like drunk monkeys.

Instead, I make a hot breakfast. Every day. Even the days I REALLY don’t want to…and the ones I REALLY, REALLY don’t want to.

Usually its pancakes, french toast, or an oatmeal/farina type porriage (sp?). My kids LOVE pancakes. They approve of french toast, and two out of three will eat the hot cereals. Needless to say, we usually end up with pancakes. Throw some fruit and kefir on the side, and they are happy little campers.

Added bonus: they don’t come to me within 30 minutes and tell me they are “starving to death” anymore. Why? Because they didn’t eat styrofoam soaked in milk for breakfast. It was real food. Hot, filling food. Hot, filling food that isn’t as fun an easy as Lucky Charms, but we are adjusting.

This morning, we had a plumbing issue, so the hubs stayed home. He was a little bummed about the added expense that plumbing brings and said that he really just wanted a Denny’s Grand Slam breakfast. Being that we are an hour from the nearest Denny’s, that wasn’t happening, but I knew I could at least accomidate his sad pocketbook a little.

Therefore, breakfast today was:

Fried eggs (the adults had three eggs each as they were from Bantam chickens and as a result, the size of ping pong balls), red potatoes cooked in raw, organic coconut oil, biscuits made from whole wheat flour and home brewed yogurt (buttermilk isn’t finished brewing), applewood smoked bacon (so shoot me), and GRAVY. Yes, GRAVY. I made the roux with whole wheat flour and the milk was organic. I am going to count that as healthy…enough. Sometimes, when it feels like the world is out to get you, you eat gravy. I don’t feel bad.  I made the kids some chocolate milk out of organic milk that NEEDS to be consumed (at 5.99 a gallon, you dont let it go to waste) and Trader Joe’s “midnight moo” chocolate sauce. YUM.

Because breakfast wasn’t eaten until almost 11am, (plumbing issues make for long mornings) we just had a snack at around 3pm. I made the kids some popcorn. cooked in raw coconut oil, then drizzled with caramel made from 1/2 a stick of butter, 1/4 cup of demerara, a touch of organic half and half and some sea salt. It was SOOO good and just enough to hold the over for dinner…which is going to be:

Pulled pork sandwiches. You have to try this recipe.

I have some pork roasts which I find are very inexpensive! I bought two in a package for $8.00 the other day. I am cooking both so that I can have some leftovers for lunches this weekend.

I popped the roasts in the crock pot, dumped in a bottle of root beer (I used this one  that I found at Whole Foods), put the lid on , and set it on low. I will leave it for about six hours (or about two hours from now). When it is done, I will pull the roasts out, shred the meat, and then dump in a bottle of good quality bbq sauce. I could make my own…I have a fantastic family recipe that used to be sold in local stores, but its quite a bit of money up front and right now, it isn’t a priority. I just bought a good all natural sauce this time around. I am sure the $1.00 bottle would taste just as good.

As I type, this dough is rising. In a bit, I will be mixing up some cole slaw with homemade mayo. Typically, I don’t eat cole slaw, but I watched this show on the Food Network a couple of weeks ago that showed a place in the south that makes pulled pork sandwiches topped with cole slaw and it looked oddly appetizing. As I said, I typically don’t eat cole slaw, and for all I know, tonight will not be any different. That said, I must try.

Dessert will be some frozen homemade vanilla crockpot yogurt (recipe might still be on the sidebar somewhere?) topped with fresh strawberries and midnight moo sauce. No restraint today…sorry.

Try the pork. You will be glad you did. The whole meal was made for about $16.00. More than most of my meals, but not bad for five people plus leftovers. I will be breaking my new “no soda” rule (haven’t had a Pepsi in almost a month) to have some root beer and homemade vanilla vodka. Yeah, I said it. HOMEMADE VANILLA VODKA. No apologies either, folks. It’s medicinal.

Especially on a day when the plumber comes to visit.

I had no idea this blog was mentioned in his book, “Living Large in Lean Times”!! I feel a bit bad that I haven’t been blogging here. I could be giving budget minded folks so many ideas right now. I hereby vow to stay up to date here. Kind of excited, actually.

So much has changed in the last year and three months. We are still in the hills, still working towards living a self-sufficient lifestyle, still homeschooling, and definitely always trying to save money!

So what is different? Our way of eating has changed quite a bit. Our focus is eating foods in their natural state (not raw,  just unprocessed), trying to eat more local food, and trying to implement more Nourishing Traditions type methods into our diet. It certainly takes more time out of my day, but it has been SO worth it.

Make no mistake though…sometimes you need a down home country meal, and we haven’t given them up completely.

I kinda feel like I may have missed out on sharing these recipes with people who may have stumbled upon this site after reading Clark Howard’s book. I hope that more people come by so I can share my excitement. I am LOVING cooking more than ever, and although we have had to increase our budget to $150 a week (up from $100), I still feel like we are doing really well for a family of five.

Feeding our families in this economy isn’t easy. EVERYTHING is SO expensive right now and trying to eat food that is actually good for you on a tight budget is remarkably difficult…but POSSIBLE.

I CAN’T WAIT to show you how.

Thank you, Clark Howard, (who may never ever read this and see that I am grateful) for inspiring me to come back here and open up my kitchen to everyone again.

YUM!!!!

The menu plan last night was homemade chicken nuggets. I decided roughly an hour before dinner that I wasn’t going to make those.

Instead, I made chicken filet sandwiches on homemade hamburger buns. They were awesome.

Hubs said they tasted like chik-fil-a , only better.

I took 3 large chicken breasts (boneless skinless) and butterflied them, so that I had six thinner filets. I soaked them in about 2 or 3 cups of milk, a dollup of dijon mustard, salt, pepper, garlic, and pappy’s seasoning for about an hour.

I mixed 1 cup each of panko, italian breadcrumbs and flour in a seperate bowl.

I prepared the fryer, set at 350* and began dredging the chicken in the breadcrumb mixture. I then fried them for roughly 5 minutes or so (until golden brown and inside is done). I served them on homemade buns with homemade potato chips that I fried up after the chicken was all cooked. The oil gave the potatoes good flavor. I fried up some zuchini too, but frankly, those were gross, LOL!

I ate mine plain (kids did too) but the hubs put mayo and mustard on his. It made six sandwiches, enough for everyone to have one, and for the hubs to have one for lunch today.

Total price: About  $6.50

What a blessing! The hubs’ best friend’s dad (did you catch that?) offered to let us pick as many tomatoes as we wanted from his acres of gorgeous tomatoes! I picked a bag, and he said it wasn’t enough and told me to pick more. I ended up coming home with 40 pounds of tomatoes and FOUR HUGE watermelons.

I ended up making ten jars of spaghetti sauce, one bit tub of sauce for the freezer, and ten freezer sacks of spiiicccyy salsa…and I still have about 10 pounds of tomatoes left!

I got the sauce recipe here…the only difference was I added two spicy peppers and a bell pepper to the recipe! Turned out reallly good. Made happy to use my brothers wine in it too.