Once a Month Cooking

When doing some research on freezing my potatoes I came across this website www.onceamonthmom.com. This lovely woman gives you a months worth of freezable recipes (well not EVERY meal is covered, like her we still like to eat out every now and then!). She pretty much lays it out for you. What to do on assembly day, etc. I'm waiting on July's menu to come out (or if I get anxious I might just run with June's). She also posts pictures of what you'd be making on Pinterest so you can see what your meals will be. For those busy mom's it's a DAYs worth of cooking for a month. Um...sign me up and my hubby is just gonna have to find something to do with my kiddo for a day! I'll let you know how it works and it's cost, etc!

Freezing Potatoes

Before we head out to Pittsburg for 4th of July activities, I noticed a 10 pound bag of potatoes I'd bought from Aldi's about to turn. All in all it took me about 45 minutes but I washed, peeled and cut potatoes (diced, french fry length, and shredded for hasbrowns). For the diced and french fry length you need to "blanch" them (a new word for me). Basically it means to place them in boiling water for 3-5 minutes. Then rinse them in COLD water, spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and place potatoes in a single row. Put in freezer and once they are frozen, store in freezer bags and date (for reference). When ready to eat, heat oven to 425 and bake on sprayed cookie sheet for 15-20 minutes. 

I found this website which was pretty helpful. http://www.diyreviews.net/2011/how-to-freeze-potatoes/ If anyone has advice or good websites on freezing things like produce, etc. please let me know!

It's official!

Another personal post: I promise not to make this a baby blog....just easier to have everything on one blog. Should be the last one unless I get more sonogram pictures later on!

Profile

 I'm a girl!!!

Spine

Profile

Staring straight us! Skeleton view of face.

Face straight at sonographer and hand.

My favorite profile picture. Looks kinda familiar don't you think?

Foot

Here are the new pictures of the newest member of our family. It was confirmed 100% that little one is in fact a girl! Nothing grew since the last time I got to see her. Heart rate was 149. Baby is 1 pound 2 ounces. Measures a little small but probably caught her before a growth spurt (and 41 percentile is pretty normal outside of the womb so she just might be petite!). Right now she is breach but I pray that will change (I knew I felt a LOT of bladder kicks!). I think profile looks pretty similar to Q's but we'll have to wait and see. Now just anxious to get her out and meet her...I guess I have a while before that happens so I'd better just settle in for the ride!

My Surprise!

So I get a text from my good friend Jaime asking if she can stop by to drop something off. She shows up at my house with this BEAUTIFUL hand knitted blanket. An older women (somewhere near 100 years old) knits these blankets and each blanket takes 4 months to make. The detail is incredible and I LOVE the colors and theme. This will became a family heirloom that baby girl gill can pass down. Each blanket is made for a "special" baby so Jaime thought I would love it and she's right. So the girls room might become a caterpillar/ladybug theme! I'm so blessed to have such wonderful friends in my life. This gift means so much to me!

Update on Dishwashing Liquid

12 HOURS

So I have pictures of the process. I cheated and put it in the fridge to cool off hoping it would gel up faster (I'm impatient for results!). It did gel. It's kinda a weird consistency but it is def gelled. So here are pictures at 12 hours and 24 hours. You do need to shake it before each use. I'll update again when I actually use it (which should be soon, I swear I do dishes everyday!) I might try and put it in the blender to mix is up a little better. We'll see.

*Update- Do not put in blender! I tried it with one of the jars and it separates really badly. I returned the full bottle back into the fridge. It stays more gel like that way. =) Running my first dish load right now.

24 HOURS

Homemade Liquid Automatic Dishwasher Soap

Things I hate spending money on: laundry detergent, automatic dishwasher soap, dish soap, and toilet paper. Here's a way to tackle one of those!

I finally found a LIQUID homemade recipe for your dishwasher. Took me forever! Here is the pictures of my journey but I will post the link in which I found the recipe.
http://choosingsimplicity.blogspot.com/2012/01/choosing-simplicity-homemade-liquid.html

Ingredients:
16 cups of water divided
1 1/2 cups of WASHING soda (not baking)
1 cup of Borax
1/2 cup of Dr Bronner's Pure Liquid Castile Soap

Step One: Boil 8 cups of water

 Step Two: Add the Soap, Soda, and Borax stir until dissolved. Then add remaining 8 cups of water and allow to cool.

 Step Three: Pour into recycled bottles that you have lying around. Mine doesn't look as "milky" as hers but she says it will "gel up" in about 24 hours as it cools. I'll let you know! She recommends a tablespoon per load with VINEGAR as a rinse aid. Again I will update when I use it as well.

Cost is $3.00 per gallon of this stuff and if you really only have to use a tablespoon this should last FOREVER. Works out to .02  per oz.  She says to mix well before you use each time.

My favorite meal of this week's menu

I got a little persecution after my last post and I let it get me down for a day, but I'm back and focusing on the POSITIVE in my life and weeding out the NEGATIVE! Kinda like spring cleaning your house, sometimes you have to spring clean your life and dust out all those cobwebs then move on!

So my menu this week wasn't too exciting but one recipe really got my taste bud's excited so I thought I'd share. My two year old even ate this up!

The recipe is from my Taste of Home's 5 Ingredient book. Well here it is and it's in the crock pot!

Beef in Onion Gravy with Homemade Mashed Tater's
Ingredients
- 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup (10 and 3/4 oz)
- 2 TBSP onion soup mix
-2 TBSP of beef broth
-1 TBSP of quick-cooking tapioca
-1 lb of beef stew meat (Aldi's has this already cut into 1 inch pieces!)

Combine the first 4 ingredients in slow cooker and let stand for 15 minutes. Stir in beef. Cover and cook (NO PEEKING) for 6-8 hours or until meet is tender. Serve over noodles or mashed potatoes.

We had potatoes so I cut them up and boiled them. Then just added milk and a little butter, salt and pepper, and mixed away. This was so yummy and I got to enjoy it for lunch later in the week. Still makes me lick my chops thinking about it!

Blessings

I'm in absolute awe when I think of all God has done for me in my life, but most specifically in the last 4-6 weeks. This journey started when I was blessed to stay home on short-term disability for fracturing my elbow (a very minor injury and easy recovery). It was during this time that I began to feel God calling me to stay at home. Work had become less of a priority, in fact, I dreaded it! The night before I went back I stayed up until 2 am crying, I didn't even do this when I went back from maternity leave full time. It was during this time off that we were blessed again! Paul submitted his application to a company that he had already tried one other time. His hopes were slim but he figured "what could it hurt". Paul believes it's because he is growing his hair back out that he started getting calls for interviews (those that know Paul know what a BIG deal his hair is!). He interviewed in Pittsburg but the job wasn't right for him. We were both bummed! I wanted out of my job and we both were looking for a change, but I kept believing that something better was in store for us. Since January during this year I had my own little conversion and began to strengthen my relationship with God. My challenge to myself was "letting go and letting God". I can't even tell you what this has done for my life! Then came the call to set up an interview for Perceptive Software. Paul did so well in the interview process that they actually felt he was over qualified and created a position that would offer more financially (although we didn't know that at the time). The call from Paul when he accepted to offer came to me while I was at work (and miserable at work I might add!). That was it. God was calling me to be home. It wasn't easy to convince Paul that this is what I was going to do (he's a numbers guy and just couldn't see how it was going to work). Lucky for him, I am a determined woman and with God by my side, who can stop me! =)

So the little blessings that God has given me this month are even more of a sign from Him that I'm doing what he's calling me to do.
1st- Free curtains! Yes I said FREE!! I went to TJ Maxx and they curtains didn't ring up, I did my Christian duty and pointed it out to the clerk who was busy talking with a co-worker. She glanced and said it rang it up fine. Ok then! Apparently God was helping me with our budget because as you know these curtains were used to block the sun in our dining room, thus lowering our electric bill!
2nd- I changed our cable and internet service to Time Warner Cable (because both are around $65 and with Surewest we were paying $48 for just internet and cable would have been another $56 added). Anyways, the cable guy said that our DTV (the one in our bedroom) may"unscramble" some additional channels that time warner provides. Paul's biggest concern was ESPN because he is THE biggest sports fan out there. =) Well I checked and sure enough, boom, ESPN in our bedroom (which is in the next package up!). I can't help but smile, and again thank the Man Upstairs!!

This is all the motivation I need and I will continue to pray that God blesses me. He is so awesome!

Cookin' with fire

I'm PROUD to say that I've dusted off my cookbooks and have seriously become a cooking fool (including calzones with crust made from SCRATCH, and homemade maple syrup!)! My goal is to one day be that house that all my kids friends flock to because there are always good things coming from the kitchen. I have no background in cooking (ie no home ec classes, or cooking classes period). I'm on a BIG learning curve but I am enjoying everything I've been learning/ we've been eating so far. With that being said, I'm looking for everyone's favorite cookbook, website, or blog. I've had some great suggestions so far including our very own Julie Dellasega's blog http://familymatters-boyzmom.blogspot.com/.

So far my go to cookbooks are few, but very helpful. These are my top 3 right now but I'm looking to add more to the library! Ones that are filled with recipes with items one would normally have on hand..not those random spices that you use once in a lifetime!! =) I can't wait to hear what everyone uses.

Ground Beef

Ok so I've been ignorant to the fact that you can buy higher fat ground beef (which is cheaper) and make it just as lean as the "lean" kind. I came across this concept in my Miserly Mom book (for those trying to save...check this out from your library!) and then again on the internet last night. The following link has the instructions, but like she says if you have a specific diet need talk with your doctor! Just another tip that I've come across!  http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/reducedfatgroundbeef.htm

Our weekend projects!

1st- The extra long curtain rod.

The bottom line on the extra long curtain rod:
1. Conduit (10ft and 5ft piece)= $3.08
2. Hacksaw= $9.95
3. Connector piece (sold in 6 pack for 1.98)=$.33
4. Cabinet knobs for end = ??? vary prices
5. Spray paint if you need it, we didn't= $3.12

Ours = 13.36 (that's with a new hacksaw!)
If you needed everything = $16.48 + knobs
*Really cheap if you have your own hacksaw but still better than paying $50-$60 per extra long rod!

Q playing the "drums" while Mom and Dad work

Finished Product (minus the end pieces). Excuse Q stuffing her face with pizza!

You can see through my pictures that we combined the two pieces of conduit with the connector piece, used a hacksaw to cut the end, then flip flopped and put the cut end into the connector piece to have two smooth ends once the curtains were on. I LOVE them and can already tell a difference in the temperature of the room! We still have to put the end pieces on but we are waiting for Q to take a nap so she won't mess with them while the super glue bonds.












2nd- Flower Pots on the porch

I used cheap bunches (.94 cents a piece and two bunches of $3.00) of flowers and greenery from Wal-mart. Placed the green flower placement stuff (can't remember the name) at the bottom of the pot and covered it with dry black or pinto beans to replicate soil.

Bottom line:
1. Fake flowers = 18.22
2. Clay pots - Free (the old owners left them for us!) =
3. Beans (Pinto are cheaper per oz and still look like dirt!) = 10.06
All four pots was 28.28

Closing the Curtain on our dilemma!

We have had trouble finding a curtain rod to fit our extremely large windows in our dining room (like I said, we're putting up shades so we need a curtain rod long enough!). We bought one at Walmart but it was still too small. After doing some research (which I wish I would have done in the first place) I came across a cheap DIY method that you can do for any size window!! Here is the link http://www.blogher.com/diy-curtain-rod?page=0,0 . You use electrical conduit (found at Home Depot for 1.67) and she walks you through it step my step. I'll post her final picture so you can see how awesome it is. Through other websites I've seen using old cabinet knobs at the end and then spray painting the whole thing for a professional look! I'll post pictures and updates of the process of ours when we are done this weekend!

My Frugal Adventure

I'm determined to make staying at home a reality, not only for me but for others so to do this I'm tracking my journey of cutting costs without feeling deprived! This is my first month and my main tackle is our budget. That word used to make me shudder, now its my challenge. My first week back at home I've tackled a few things to cut back on our budget. First thing is groceries, I'll go into that in more detail in a later post. Next, I called our cable company and we're going to get BASIC cable and wifi for $60 a month, much better than having channels we didn't watch and paying $120! Then came the cell phone, this is still a work in progress but we'll probably switch providers and save and maybe even get more on our phones! Sprint is charging us $140 a month for 2 phones and mine isn't even smart! All it does is call and text. That is a little outrageous to me so I will update after Paul starts his job and we know for sure we need 2 phones. On to utilities.... We are installing curtains to block the sun in the dining and living rooms since summer and the heat is fast approaching. I'm also using this heat to our advantage and have bought a portable close line to hang dry our clothes! It can be moved inside for the winter and I'm sure we'll quickly get our $42 dollars back! I turned our water heater down from 140 degrees to 120 (not sure why I never did that to begin with!) but we'll see what this does to our gas bill. I'm super excited to be able to be at home. The positive things I've already seen in Quincy are that she is talking to me more and we're on a great schedule so her attitude is MUCH better because she is resting better! I've said my daily rosary and feel that God is working in my life to help me achieve this gift of staying at home (ie I found a $10 Target gift card in my wallet that I forgot about...free pull ups..booyah!) Can't wait to post again! I'm sure I'll find even more ways to save especially with this new one coming.