Cleaning out the freezer I found BEEF

May 5, 2012 by pearsonsprogress    No Comments    Posted under: blessings, food, Grocery Challenge, saving money

Slowly, I’m working through my pantry and freezer to use up what I already have. I opened the small freezer to the fridge I have in the basement and found 2 packages of beef! One package has 2 good cuts of steak and the other package has 2 filets off a round steak. Boy, was I glad! I was explaining to John about our May financial situation and shared with him how we needed to be very conservative this month in our spending. I was recounting some of the meat I know I have on hand mostly pork and chicken plus a small turkey which I will use for guests and I had thought I was completely out of beef. Imagine my joy & thankfulness to discover that I had some left! We do eat a couple of meatless meals a week using my fresh eggs that my wee hens gift to me every morning and/or legumes.
Gathering up the bits and saving the pennies. I love it!

The sour cream cutout cookies… re-visited

Dec 17, 2011 by pearsonsprogress    3 Comments    Posted under: blessings, Blogroll, food, photos

For those of you who are new to baking and thought the dough to be ‘too wet’… it is! When the recipes says to  to roll out on a ‘heavily floured’ board;  well that means, add the flour needed to make it manageable to work with, but don’t add so much that the dough is tough.

Here are some of my photos from this recipe I have been making for over 10 years: I did these yesterday and will make up several packages to give away. This recipe makes a lot!

The Pantry … I really want to clean it out!

Dec 15, 2011 by pearsonsprogress    No Comments    Posted under: blessings, Blogroll, food, recipes, saving money

Here are some freezer & pantry  items I will be working through:

• chicken wings- freezer
•  pie crust-freezer
• bean soup- freezer
• re-fried beans
• green chili salsa
• chalupas~ beans and shredded pork with wonderful southwest seasonings enveloped in a flour tortilla~ yum.

I had to market today and bought a package of napkins and 0% fat yogurt… but was all! It’s so nice to eat well with the food we have in the freezer.

Old Fashioned Tomato Soup Recipe

• 6 Servings
• Prep/Total Time: 20 min.

Ingredients

• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• Salt to taste
• 1 quart milk
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Minced fresh parsley, optional

Directions

• In a large saucepan, bring tomatoes to a boil. Add baking soda, garlic salt, pepper and salt if desired. Reduce heat; add the milk and butter. Heat through but do not boil. Garnish with parsley if desired. Yield: 6 servings (1-1/2 quarts).
• *2 cups of home-canned or freshly stewed tomatoes with liquid can be substituted for canned tomatoes.

Day #30… the end of this challenge & I DID it!

Dec 11, 2011 by pearsonsprogress    4 Comments    Posted under: blessings, Blogroll, food, Grocery Challenge, recipes, saving money, Spain

HOORAY! I did it and I was able to save all but 10€ of my grocery money for (hopefully) a celebration trip with my  husband in May 2012. I’m a planner… I’ve learned that fun & relaxation just does not  happen… I have  to plan for it and create it! In any case… I was able to serve meals for 30 days using my pantry and freezer contents + the 10€ for extras.  It really is a sense of accomplishment! Ok…Will I stop here? Yes & NO. I still have a lot in the freezer… why buy more? I think actually that I’ll continue to eat out of the pantry & freezer and TRY to get to the bottom of it. It would be so great to see it empty! In fact this will be a good project for me… to pull one thing out of the freezer each day and ‘work with it’!

The last 30 days I spent: 9,84€

I have left: 0,16€

Tomorrow I’m having some ladies over from church to show them how to make some cut-out Christmas cookies. These are not your ordinary sugar cookies, but a wonderful sour cream pastry that are tender. They are a hit around here! I’ll post the recipe tomorrow.

I’ll serve the cookies and this coffee to my church friends:

Mocha-Mint Coffee

6 cups freshly brewed coffee
4 squares (1-ounce each) semi-sweet
baking chocolate, chopped
1-1/2 cups hot milk
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
8 peppermint sticks or candy canes
Pour the hot coffee into large
saucepan and stir in the chocolate. Heat
over low heat 5 minutes or until chocolate
is melted, stirring occasionally. Pour
the milk into a microwave-safe container
and heat on high for 1 to 2 minutes,
or until hot (or heat in another saucepan
over medium high heat until hot, not
boiling). Add milk and extract to the
coffee chocolate mixture; stir until well
blended. Carefully ladle into 8 mugs.
Garnish each serving with a peppermint
stick. Yield: 8 servings.

Day #26 Only 4 days left for my grocery challenge

Dec 7, 2011 by pearsonsprogress    No Comments    Posted under: blessings, Blogroll, Bobbie's Store, Grocery Challenge, saving money

  “A penny saved is a penny earned.” -
  —  Benjamin Franklin

“Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.
  —  Socrates

Proverbs 24:3-4
Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; and by knowledge the rooms shall be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

Proverbs 27:23
Know well the face of your flocks; and pay attention to your herds.

Proverbs 10:4
Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

Proverbs 16:8 Better is a little with righteousness than great income with injustice.

Here’s an idea to track your spending:

The most important thing is to carry around a little notebook. Every time you get money whether it’s from a paycheck or a garage sale or picking up change from the ground;write it down. Every time you spend money whether it’s paying bills or buying coffee or paying bus fare write it down. Try keeping track of every penny that enters or leaves your life.

Tracking your spending helps to demystify money you begin to perceive it as a tool. You gain a sense of power & you no longer feel that money controls you, but that you control your finances. Your awareness of your money habits is sharpened, allowing you to make changes to improve your situation. This is an essential money skill, and it’s easy.

This exercise may lead you to change spending habits.

Here are some pointers:

• Be careful with transactions that are easy to forget. Some transactions cash transactions, online transactions, transactions without a receipt  are quickly forgotten.
• Get a receipt for everything. It’s easy to forget were you spent your money on just 24 hours later. Make a habit of putting all your receipts in one place so that you know where to find them.
• It’s best to process your transactions daily. I find this easiest but some prefer to do it weekly. Takes minutes!
• Make it a routine. If you get into the habit of tracking your spending, it becomes second nature.
• As always, do what works for you. No one system is perfect for everybody. The important thing is to track your spending.

This process paints a picture of your spending habits as they actually exist, not as you think they exist. You can use this information to create a budget. Or, at the very least, to serve as snapshot of where your money goes.

Day #25 the joy of giving

Dec 6, 2011 by pearsonsprogress    1 Comment     Posted under: blessings, Blogroll, food, Gardening, Grocery Challenge, saving money

WOW… 5 days left of my CHALLENGE to spend only 10€ in 30 days on food, cleaning products & paper products. I still have 2,74€ left! I also went to the pantry and found another bottle of fabric softener that I thought I was almost out of and 1 more box of laundry detergent. I really want to use what is in my panty and ‘shop’ there 1st!

Giving.  I wish I could give more.  I personally have been given so much. SO SO much. In fact, a lot of what I blog about is a result of those gifts to ME. Cake mixes, corn bread mixes, chocolate chips etc…. too many to name.

I feel blessed when I can give someone something. It can be ‘tithing’ what comes from my garden or my hens, a coffee I invite someone to share  or a Bible verse I send to someone.   I feel joy when I give..  the little do! Saving money and reducing expenditures gives me a little more  freedom to share with others. It’s not all about money … time is such a great gift! For sometime now, my personal little project has been to try to give away 3 ‘blessings’ a day. Nothing fancy just something to share with someone else.

Here are some ideas:

• make a cake and send ½ over to a neighbor
•  baby-sit for a friend for 2 hours so she can just read!
• grow something in your garden and plan to grow enough to share… no matter how small you garden.
• clean out your closet and give clothes to the good-will.
• when you hear of a financial need at church, give what you can anonymously.
• buy a candle for your holiday table and another one to give away.
• send a Bible verse to a person who needs encouragement
• invite someone to dinner
• donate to the food drive
• visit someone in the nursing home or hospital.
•  serve in your church ~try to give more than you receive
• be that person who brings the cookies to Bible study
• send flowers to someone… just because
• give a Bible or New Testament to someone
• make a long distance phone call to encourage someone
• give someone your attention and listen to THEM
• read a book and pass it on

Well, the list is endless. It’s impossible for me to give more than what I receive.

Do you really want to really pull the plug on your greed? Become a giver. Giving away some of what is most precious to you—your money—is the ultimate thank-you note. Giving opens the door to God’s blessings and your eyes to see the big picture. It allows us to view the world through new eyes of compassion. Giving is an outward expression of a personal affirmation that no matter how bleak your situation may appear, you really do have enough.  Lord, help me be creative and open my eyes to what’s around me. AMEN

Day #23 of the grocery challenge & oranges!

Dec 4, 2011 by pearsonsprogress    No Comments    Posted under: Baking, blessings, Blogroll, Bobbie's Store, Grocery Challenge, recipes, saving money, Spain

Look what a neighbor brought me!

December 4th, 2011~Sunday

I always feel so cared for by the Lord when I receive gifts from HIM. Last week while in the village,  a neighbor dropped by to give me a bag of oranges from her tree. Wasn’t that nice?! Of course I am so thankful for her but I know that my loving Father directs these gifts to me. It’s personal.

The oranges  will be perfect to serve to a guest coming, for fresh juice, and for baking an orange cake for Bible study. It feels like one of those cooking shows where the contestants are handed a picnic hamper with food in it and the chefs have to be creative and make different courses out of the ingredients.

I don’t want to waste one single precious orange!

What I have spent: 7,26€

What I have left: 2,74€

Beat and Bake Orange Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest

Frosting:

6 tablespoons butter, softened

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

2 tablespoons orange juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

*because this frosting recipe uses so much powdered sugar, which I’m low on,  I’m going to make the cake in a bundt pan and then a glaze using the powdered sugar and fresh orange juice.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 – 8 inch round cake pans, loaf pan, 9×13 pan or bundt pan.  In a measuring cup, combine milk, 1/2 cup orange juice, oil, beaten eggs and 1 1/2 teaspoon orange zest. Set aside.

Sift flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl. Mix in sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk mixture. Stir until thoroughly combined.

Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.

To make Orange Butter Frosting: Cream butter until smooth. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Beat in 2 tablespoons orange juice to bring to spreading consistency. Stir in vanilla and 1 teaspoon orange zest.

my beverage shelf in the pantry

Here is the beverage shelf in my pantry. I’m making HUGE progress on the ‘milk shelf’. I still have  boxes of whole milk and for my non-fat milk requirements, I have a can of dried milk. The other milk products I have are: several cans of evaporated milk, one can of sweetened condensed milk & dried coconut milk. Sometimes I just forget to use the coconut milk! About the beverage section of my pantry; I have my individual juices above, and below are re-purposed plastic bottles with drinking water in case of an emergency. One the milk shelf, I would usually have it full with whole milk, 2% and non-fat. I’ve used all but the whole milk.

Day # 22 ~ grocery challenge & hating waste!

Dec 3, 2011 by pearsonsprogress    1 Comment     Posted under: blessings, Blogroll, food, Grocery Challenge

    December 3rd,2011~Saturday

Money down the drain… wow I hate to see waste. Waste of any kind really. I’ve found that when I’m not on top of the management of my menus and kitchen, waste happens. You know, that one piece of bread that gets old or the Tupperware with cranberry sauce in the back of the fridge that spoils or that can of mandarins that I bought 3 years ago ( I confess) and now has gone bad. Probably this kind of waste is only  acceptable in western societies.  Do I feel guilt?  No, not really,  but I do feel responsible for the things  that have been given to us.

Here’s a few ways to stop food waste:

• Make a weekly menu plan and shop 1st in your pantry, fridge & freezer
• shop with a list~see how little you can buy and how much you can use that is already in your pantry
• buy the fruit & veggies you will eat instead of the whole bag~ maybe just 2 or 3.
• think out-side the box. My brother-in-law Joe says that any food leftover is breakfast with an egg on top of it.  John agrees and loves it. Pizza, mashed potatoes, rice casserole…
• learn to make soups. That last cup of pasta would be perfect for an Italian flavored soup. I (my girls too) always make stock or soup from the turkey carcass  after a holiday meal.

Did you know?:

• North Americans waste about $1,000 worth of food a year?
• It has been found that the main foods that are regularly thrown out are:
  • Bread
  • Apples
  • Potatoes
  • Salads – almost 50% of what we buy we throw out!
  • Meat and fish
  • Yogurts and milk
  • Spreads and dips

Miscellaneous:

• All of our scrapes of  food and egg shells are used as a supplement for our 3 hens we have in the backyard.
• I freeze what is leftover~sometimes the same day I make it. This also saves on rush trips to the market or the temptation of buying fast food. It takes so little time to defrost a zip-lock bag of soup, beans or casserole I have  in the freezer!

8 days left of my 30 day challenge to spend only 10euros on grocery, paper and cleaning supplies.

What I have spent: 7,26€

What I have left: 2,74€

Day #21 of my grocery challenge & the benefits of saffron

Dec 2, 2011 by pearsonsprogress    1 Comment     Posted under: blessings, Blogroll, food, Grocery Challenge, saving money, Spain

December 2nd, 2011~Friday

Only 9 days left! I can do it!! I was reading about saffron the other day and here is what I found:

Spain one of the largest growers of saffron, well known for it’s high cost and one of the key ingredients of the Spanish Paella. Here are some of the interesting things I’ve found out about this special spice:

..

Day #20 and bit about my ‘freedom account’

Dec 1, 2011 by pearsonsprogress    No Comments    Posted under: blessings, Blogroll, food, Grocery Challenge, saving money, Spain

   December 1st, 2011

I have spent so far: 7,26€

I have left: 2,74€ ~  Yesterday I had to buy a small jar of ‘lite mayo’ for the egg salad sandwiches. Yes, we could have eaten something else, but I was focusing on the  french bread I need to use (I made canapes) and the 3 hard-boiled eggs I had. Anyway, the jar of mayo cost me, 0,65€. Funny… I have 3 jars of mayo in Madrid!

Debt-Proof Living (formerly The Cheapskate Monthly), urges that each household create and manage what she refers to as a “Freedom Account.”

Included in this account might be items such as car repairs (usually expensive; almost always unexpected), vacations (very expensive, but also very plan-able), medical bills (always expensive; almost always unexpected), six- or twelve-month insurance premiums, insurance deductibles, work clothes, Christmas gifts, and other items like these. You know all these expenses are going to show up sooner or later; with many of them, you just don’t know when.

And what about expenses like Christmas? That one hits at the same time each year.  Yet people simply do not take the time to build up the necessary funds beforehand. Thus, December rolls around, and out come the handy credit cards. Next July comes through … you’re still paying for last December (not me!)

Think of the Freedom Account as a sort of holding fund. You deposit small sums into it each month because you are thinking ahead: You’re anticipating bigger, specific expenses down the road.

Simple  steps to set up a freedom account: Read more »