BI-MONTHLY SHOPPING

Dad gave me my bi-monthly food money of $50.00. I bought the following:

Rosauers - 2 dozen eggs @ .99 ea.                       1.98

                     chicken breasts @ 1.99 lb.              20.57

                                                                                  22.56

Yokes -        Yogurt .39 ea.                        10 @   3.90

                      Bananas  @ .38 lb.                           2.52

                      Hamburger @ 3.19 .lb                   13.78   

                                                                                 20.20

So I spent a total of $42.76 for the next two weeks. I've frozen the chicken breasts in individual baggies and the hamburger was individually bagged in 12 oz. each for casseroles and whatever.   After working lunches at Balboa I'll come home and can some more corn. I've taken it off the cob so it's already to be cooked and canned. We also have beans to can which is great. We're having to can everything in quart jars because we're down to 2 pint jars and jars are crazy expensive. Dad looked on Craigslist and they're asking $6.00 for a dozen pint jars! WHAT!!! But we have plenty of quart jars so that's what we'll use. Patrick sent us home with some jam and I've been eating the blackberry combo they made and it's delicious! Great job!    That's the update for today! Have a great weekend and do something to save money!!!!!!

Love, Mom         

                                      

                                                                             

 



Back Home and Getting Ready for Winter!

Can I just say we had a great time in New York visiting with Patrick and Maran's families?! Every day was filled with fun and new places to visit and familiar places to revisit. I was so grateful to walk into the Sacred Grove again. I pictured Brady standing and feeling the Spirit and being overwhelmed as I was with the amazing things that took place there. Questions answered, the appearance of God the Father and Jesus Christ and the knowledge that was restored upon the earth! I also loved hearing the clip clop of the Amish wagons and horses, the rooster as he made sure we were all up and ready to go, the grandchildren who were beautiful and happy! And the peace and quiet of Interlaken! I wish I could bottle that and bring it home with me. The stresses of life just seem to fade away there and I yearn to have that peace here. And I have decided that if I want it I'm going to have to duplicate some of the things that I found in Interlaken.

• For instance, there is no television in the Mitchell home with its crazy and totally inappropriate commercials. So when I got home I looked at what's coming up on TV and realized that the only decent thing to watch this week will be the Seahawks game Thursday night. So there has not been any TV in the house while I'm working or eating. Actually I've been listening to Christmas music on Pandora. Big surprise there for you!
• I loved how we ate such healthy foods and for myself I determined that we would eat healthier and more of what I've frozen and canned. (Totally forget how we ate Amish whoopies and molasses and chocolate chip cookies)
• I have also determined that I can be quite wasteful with money. I am frugal at times but there are occasions when I do splurge and I look back and think, 'What did I buy that for?' So I found an old ledger of Rondo's and on the front cover I wrote in big black letters 'YOU BOUGHT WHAT?'  And so I am writing down every purchase so that I can see where it's all going.
• And I am determined to not waste any of our bounteous harvest. As I'm typing this the food processor is on the stove filled with 7 quarts of our home grown corn! I had some leftover from filling the jars and threw it in the potato soup we had for dinner! Delicious! And I will be canning the potatoes, almost 30 pounds from one row in our garden! Wow! And of course cucumbers. I will be taking some to share at church because you can only make so many pickles! And of course on Tuesday I made a loaf of half wheat and half white bread. The more I make bread the better it is!

So many other things I have resolved to make a part of our lives and I will share how they are working for us! I know I'll be spending part of the grocery money on chicken that's on sale at Yoke's and canning it. I love that it's cooked and all you have to do is throw it in a recipe. And Patrick my lovely glass jars are sitting on my counter looking very countrified next to that old sifter Dad found. Thanks again to you and Lindsay.

Life is good and I am blessed. I love you all!

Mom

• 

"We are eating very well, thank you very much"

We continue to eat more fruits and veggies for the following reasons:

• Weight watchers
• Better health
• We want to live longer!

I wanted to share a couple more recipes with all of you! Let me preface the first recipe by saying that growing up I never ate or even tried to eat zucchini. Just the name made me want to gag. However, zucchini is prolific in the garden and it's good for you and it has little to no points for weight watchers! So I found this recipe which really isn't great for weight watchers but it is delicious and it uses up the zucchini!


Kelli's Fried Green Zucchini:
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I crushed some of my homemade croutons for this)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 tsp. garlic salt
2 eggs (I will only use one next time)
5 Tbls. olive oil (I'll only use 3 next time)
1 zucchini cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (I used a lot less!)
1 cup spaghetti sauce (I used my home canned spaghetti sauce)

1. Mix together the crumbs, parmesan cheese and garlic salt in a shallow bowl. Beat the egg in a 2nd bowl.
2. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat until oil is rippling but not smoking.
3. Dip zucchini slices into the egg, then into the crumbs and place in skillet in single layer. Fry slices until golden brown, about 3 minutes, then flip over and fry until slices are cooked through and golden brown. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over slices and cook 1-2 minutes more.
4. To serve, spoon hot spaghetti sauce onto a plate and top with zucchini slices. This was delicious!

Next is Seven Layer Tortilla Pie. Dad really, really liked this! I will give you the original recipe accompanied with my changes.


2 cans pinto beans (I used a quart jar of leftover pinto beans that I had home canned. I used about 2/3 of a cup for another recipe and didn't want these to go to waste!)
1 cup salsa, divided
2 cloves garlic, minced (I used a garlic pepper that I got on sale a while back)
2 Tbls chopped cilantro (Didn't have this, but it was great without it)
1 (15 oz.) can black beans (Didn't have this, just used all pinto beans)
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
7 (8 inch) flour tortillas ( I used the flour tortillas for dad but corn tortillas for me since they're lower in calories)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I used about a 1 1/4 cups)
1 cup salsa
1/2 cup sour cream (Didn't have this but oh well!)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. In a large bowl, mash beans. Stir in 3/4 cup salsa and garlic. (I put in the whole cup of salsa since I wasn't using black beans)
3. In a separate bowl, mix together 1/4 cup salsa, cilantro, black beans and tomatoes.
4. Place 1 tortilla in a pie plate. Spread 3/4 cup pinto bean mixture over tortilla to within 1/2 inch of edge. Top with 1/4 cup cheese, and cover with another tortilla. Spread with 2/3 cup black bean mixture, and top with 1/4 cup cheese. Repeat layering twice. Cover with remaining tortilla and spread with remaining pinto bean mixture and cheese.
5. Cover with foil, and bake in preheated oven for about 40 minutes.(I cooked it for 30). Cut into wedges and serve with salsa and sour cream.

Such good food and not a bit of meat in there. So good and so good for you!


Love you all
Mom








Enjoying the Summer

So much has happened this summer and we are anticipating more happy memories as we plan to go back east and connect with Patrick & Lindsay and Maran & Devin and their families! June was all about getting Brady ready for his mission, taking him to the MTC and also enjoying a quick visit with some of Dad's family! Then back to Spokane where we have shared some great times for the month of July with Jordan and Ginanne, Emi, Xander and Lucas. Now they are back in Yuma and today is Jordan and Emi's first day of school. Next Monday Becky starts her back to school meetings and school for her starts on the 19th of August. Zach is moving to the west coast to enjoy a change of scenery. He spent a few days with Becky last week and was able to take in a singles ward campout! Brady as you may know from his e-mails is doing fantastic!!! He has grown so much in only a few weeks. Amazing what serving the Lord can do for you! Maran and Devin have put a bid in on a home in Virginia. They love it there and hope to make it home. This fall we will have Nolan in 3rd grade, Emily in 2nd grade, Gerret in 1st grade and Courtney starts kindergarten! Wow! Such an amazing summer thus far and we look forward to making more happy memories back East.

I have noticed that the weight I lost was beginning to come back so my friend Michele and I have returned to Weight Watchers. I have this feeling that I will be a Weight Watcher lifer! However, my goal is to head for my 60's healthy and strong and being a vibrant and active grandma. Being on Weight Watchers means that your Dad and I are eating less meat, more fruits and vegetables and just being more choosy in what goes in our bodies. I wanted to share a recipe that I've used to keep us on track!

This is a basic Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli recipe. I wasn't sure how good it would be with only 1 cup of cheese in the sauce but it was excellent. 

Ingredients:

12 oz. uncooked past (2 1/2 cups)

10 oz. uncooked broccoli (2.1/2 cups)

1 tsp. butter

1/3 cups breadcrumbs

3 Tbls. grated Parmesan (I didn't have this, but it was great without it)

2 1/2 cups fat free milk

1/3 cup flour

1/2 cup chopped onions

1 cup shredded cheese

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 2-quart baking dish. Cook pasta according to directions, adding broccoli to water 3 minutes before pasta is done. Drain. In same pan melt butter over medium heat, add bread crumbs and cook, stirring often until light golden, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and put in small bowl with 1 Tbls. Parmesan cheese. In same saucepan whisk together milk and flour until blended and add onion. Bring to a boil over med-high heat whisking frequently. Reduce heat to low and simmer until thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add cheddar cheese, mustard and salt and pepper to taste and add remaining Tbls of parmesan cheese. Pour over pasta and broccoli, toss to coat. Put in baking dish and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake about 20-25 minutes. Excellent!

Note: I used broccoli that I had frozen last year. It's amazing what you can do with foods that you froze that may not look great but still taste amazing! Because I didn't buy the parmesan cheese I didn't have to buy anything from the store. I love food storage!



Snow Day!


I'm sitting at the computer while the snow does it's swirling dance outside, taunting me for once again falling for the weather people's lies. We were supposed to have just a small, a very small chance of more snow today! Apparently the snow had other ideas!

And I am looking at my favorite recipe blog, www.jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com for some great soup recipes! I'll be trying the following 3 recipes over the course of the next couple weeks:

Loaded Black Bean Soup

Classic Chicken Tortilla Soup

Black Bean and Ham Soup (Crock Pot)

I'll let you know how they turn out!

Forgot to mention that I spent $50.24 at Yoke's at their meat sale on Friday. I bought hamburger, chicken breasts and pork sirloin chops. The chops we served on Sunday to Brady and the missionaries. Sad to note that $50.00 does not buy a lot of meat but I heard on the news that beef will be up by another 10% this summer. Beans and rice here we come!



Trying to Reduce the Grocery Bill, Again!

I didn't realize how long it had been since I'd posted on this blog. Wow! But I knew I had to chat after Dad came home from the bread store and said their prices had gone up, again. We remember getting day-old bread and paying a dollar for 4 loaves. On Saturday it had risen to 5 loaves for $6.00! REALLY! Not on my watch. So while I'm typing, my Kitchen Aid is kneading my bread dough. It's from a recipe found on my Everyday Food Storage blog. I use wheat flour that I grind up right before I start the dough. Now that's fresh! The recipe can be found on  everydayfoodstorage.net!

I also wanted to share a couple of recipes that I found that use basic ingredients and are delicious. First: Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole with Potato Chip Topping

Two chicken breasts (I use my canned chicken)

1 tsp. chicken bouillon granules

salt & pepper

1 1/2 c. cooked white rice

2 Tbls finely, choppy onion

1/2 c. celery (I didn't have this so I skipped it)

2/3 c. mayonnaise

1 T. lemon juice

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/4 c. water

3/4 c. cheddar cheese

2 c. mashed potato chips (This part you can skip if you want, I did)

1. If your chicken breasts aren't cooked yet toss them into a skillet and pout hot water over the top. Add chicken bouillon and a touch of salt and pepper. Bring water to a boil over med-high heat, cover pan and cook the chicken. Save the water!

2. After cooking chicken about 15 minutes remove from pan and shred it.

3. Place chicken in mixing bowl. Add cooked rice, onion, celery, mayonnaise, lemon juice, canned soup and 1/4 c. water. (This is where you can use water from cooking chicken)

4. Mix everything to combine. Spray a 9x13 pan and spread mixture into it.

5. Sprinkle cheddar cheese over the top. Sprinkle chips over the cheese.

6. Put dish in a preheated 4oo degree oven. Let it bake for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted.

I had some leftover sour cream and found this great cocoa cake! (I don't like to call it coffeecake)

Banana Chocolate Chip Cocoa Cake

1 c. butter (I used margarine)

2 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 c. mashed bananas

1 c. sour cream

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. salt

3 c. flour

Filling:

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 c. chocolate chips

Pour half of batter into a 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with half of filling. Pour remaining batter on top of filling, then remaining filling. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes. This was delicious.

I am trying hard to use up what we have and although I'm not nearly as good as I'd like to be, I will keep trying. Food is so expensive now, that in order to outwit the manufacturers we have to be careful about our purchases and making sure we use up what we have.