Where Did the Year Go?

Yikes! So I realized that my last blog was this time last year! Oops!

2011 was filled with lots of events for our family. My husband busy with school, and we both prepared for a summer mission trip to Africa! And naturally, Christmas began looming for us, with the issue of, "What do we get for everyone?? We're on a budget!"

This year, our gifts were homemade! I love making homemade gifts. They are typically less expensive, but are often more appreciated. Over the summer, I had my first experience (as an adult) of picking berries. In August, my good friend Anne and I went to a local blueberry orchard up here in Washington. I ended up with about 10 lbs, freezing most and keeping some fresh for eating and baking. I made a yummy blueberry cobbler and some muffins from scratch.

Later that month, we also went to Anne's brother's house to pick blackberries, which grew wild in their backyard! It was a little more difficult, as blackberries have thorns and they weren't on nice little organized bushes. I came out with some battle wounds, but with lots of berries! Most got frozen, but I decided to undergo the task of making and canning some homemade jam!

There are many recipes online, some that instruct to cook, some no-cooking, others that have pectin and some without. It was all very confusing, but I ended up just following the directions on the box of pectin. My jam turned out WAY sweet, but was still good and was gobbled up at work. I even processed the jars so that they didn't need to be refrigerated! I have since found some other recipes for freezer jam that typically have less sugar, as well as opted to use the "low/no sugar pectin" that uses about half the sugar as regular recipes. (Note: I did some research first, making sure the low-sugar options didn't substitute artificial sweeteners... I'm conditioned to think low sugar means fake sugar!).

With my freezer full of berries, I decided to share some local produce, as well as my new "making it myself" skills, with my family and friends for the holidays. Thus, the lucky ones received "Washington Blueberry Jam" and "Oregon Blackberry Jam", handmade by me! The blueberry jam was the full-sugar recipe, though blueberries did require less sugar than blackberries. When I made my second batch of blackberry jam, I opted for the low-sugar pectin. The jam was still sweet, but not intensely so. My next batch will feature freezer jam, which requires even less sugar and is supposedly more of a "fresh berry taste" rather than cooked berries. (Also, if flying on an airplane, jam is considered a liquid!)

My family also received mason jars filled with cookie ingredients! Each jar featured instructions on how to add wet ingredients (such as butter and eggs) to make various cookies. It was fun to create the layered jars, decorate with fabric and ribbon, and assemble homemade gifts. There are multiple books out there, some better than others, and I learned the hard way that 5-6 cups of ingredients do NOT fit into a quart (4 cups) jar! One of my favorites was an oatmeal-based cookie with chocolate chips (semi-sweet and milk), peanut butter chips, and mini M&Ms. The recipe and instructions for creating some of your own are below.

Monster Cookies
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup old-fashioned oats, divided
1/2 cup mini M&Ms
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
1/4 cup milk chocolate chips
-Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir well. Pour into a 1-quart wide-mouth jar with a tight fitting lid. Pack down well (I used a narrow coffee-thermos, you could also use a potato masher or other object). Add granulated sugar, brown sugar, 1/2 cup oats, chips (in order listed) and remaining 1/2 cup oats. Pack down lightly after each later. Seal jar.
-Cover top of jar with fabric (I used a rubber band to hold the fabric in place). Attach a gift tag with cooking instructions to the jar with ribbon.

Cookie Instructions:
1 jar cookie mix
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
-Preheat oven to 375.
-Pour contents of jar into bowl, mix well. Combine butter, egg, and vanilla in small bowl, mix well. Add to dry ingredients. Stir to combine, kneading with hand if needed. Roll into 1-inch balls and place on cookie sheet 2 inches apart.
-Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges are golden. Cool 5 minutes on cookie sheet, transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container.

Enjoy, and Happy New Year!

The Holidays are Over...

It's a new year, a new start. Hopefully, that includes this blog! The holidays have taken their toll on my schedule and ability to keep up with recipes, tips, and sharing my life with my few but appreciated followers!

If you're like me, the holidays are always exciting but a little stressful. The past few years, the holidays have provided a bit of financial stress, especially last year when we really couldn't afford to fly to visit my family in Ohio and couldn't justify breaking our "no credit card" rule and breaking the budget. This year, we had planned ahead by purchasing our tickets well in advance (try March with our tax refund!) and thinking ahead about budget-friendly gifts. Luckily, my second job provided me with the opportunity to give lia sophia jewelry to the women in my family, but I also took up a summer hobby, crocheting. My mother taught me how to crochet this summer, so I took up the challenge of crocheting scarves for my family members!

My original intent was to crochet a scarf for each of the 10 family members on my side (well, 11 if you include my husband) and 5 for my husband's side. I guess I got a little ahead of myself! I started off strong, but took a little hiatus in the Fall when I started back to work. Besides my own scarf, which I finished over the summer, I have made 9 to date and owe 2 more to family members (one is my mom!), plus even have a request for another one from my sister-in-law! I haven't tried anything fancy yet, such as hats or gloves, but I may try different patterns for scarves or even get adventurous by trying an afghan!

All in all, each scarf costs about $3-$9, depending on how many skeins of yarn I needed for each (thickness of yarn and length in the skein makes a big difference!). So a great cost-friendly idea for future holidays! I also went to a few holiday craft bazaars in December and saw lots of original ideas for handmade items. So, if you're like me and the holiday takes a big chunk out of the budget, try something homemade!

(More recipes and other insights to come soon, I promise!!)

Bruschetta!

I've gotten behind on my blogging, but luckily not on my cooking! I'm thoroughly enjoying making home-cooked meals for my hubby and I, and I'm pretty sure he's enjoying it too!

Several weeks ago, I tried my hand at homemade bruschetta. I have always loved this Italian appetizer and found the recipe to be fairly easy and hassle-free. Plus I learned a new cooking technique! I had never "parboiled" anything before, but this was a good place to learn. 

1. Take 6-7 plum or roma tomatoes. Parboil them by boiling water, removing it from the burner, and place the tomatoes in the water for one minute. Drain water and remove the skins of the tomatoes with a small knife. They should peel fairly easily due to the parboiling. Once peeled, cut into halves or quarters, remove the seeds and stem area, and chop finely. During this time, preheat the oven to 450 and place a rack on the top shelf in the oven.

2. Mix the tomatoes with 2 minced cloves of garlic, 1 Tbsp olive oil, and 1 tsp balsamic vinegar. Chop 6-8 fresh basil leaves, add to tomato mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Take 1 baguette French bread or similar Italian bread. Slice the baguette on a diagonal about half-inch thick slices. Coat one side of each slice with olive oil using a pastry brush. Place on a cooking sheet, olive oil side down. Toast them in the top rack in your oven (you may need to do several batches). Place a tray of bread slices in the oven on the top rack. Toast for 5-6 minutes, until the bread just begins to turn golden brown. (Note: Start with 3 minutes, then check every minute).

4. Place the bread on a serving platter, olive oil side up. Place the tomato topping in a bowl separately with a spoon for people to serve themselves over the bread, otherwise the bread may get soggy. Makes 24 small slices. The tomato mixture is best served cold, with the bread warm. Serves 6-10 as an appetizer or 3-4 for lunch.

One option is to sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. This recipe is also nice with a side of cottage cheese. 

End-of-the-Month Meatloaf

I mentioned in my last blog that I put together a random meatloaf with ingredients we had left at the end of the month. As promised, here is my recipe! I'll list the actual recipe below, with my substitutions (out of necessity, not creativity!!) in parentheses.

1 1/2 lbs ground beef (1.2 lbs turkey meat)
3/4 cup diced onions (1 2-oz envelope onion soup mix)
2 cloves garlic
1 cup shredded italian cheese (1 cup mozzarella)
1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups saltines, finely ground (1 cup oatmeal)
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup barbeque sauce

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In large bowl, combine beef/turkey, onion, cheese, parsley, eggs, and saltines/oatmeal. Add the water and combine. Transfer meat mixture to baking dish and form into 9-inch loaf. Bake for 25 minutes, then remove the meat and pour barbeque sauce on top. Return to the oven for about 15 minutes more (total of 40 minutes bake time). 


BONUS RECIPE!  Meatloaf has a great left-over recipe! When I waited tables in Hawaii, I worked at a southern bar and crab shack called Dixe Grill. We had a sandwich on the menu called Mealoaf Grilled Cheese... so ono!! Take 1-2 slices of meatloaf and re-heat. At the same time, butter 2 slices of bread. Place one slice of bread to toast on a skillet. Place a slice of cheese and barbeque sauce on top of bread. To save time, you can do this with the other slice of bread. Place the heated meatloaf between the slices of bread. Cut in half and delight in the cheesy, meaty deliciousness :)

Our Cash Journey...

This month, my husband and I went on what my friend Anne calls "a cash journey... because that's exactly what it is, a journey". I blogged earlier about how we've set out to decrease our debt, increase our monthly cash flow, and tighten up our budget. Though we're big Dave fans and are following our Baby Steps, I'll admit I've never adhered to the part of Financial Peace University where you use cash for groceries, eating out, etc. Well, this month, we tried it.

In months past, my husband and I budgeted a certain amount for groceries and eating out, and "tracked" how much we spent with the debit card with each purchase. Trouble is, as the month went on, we slacked on the tracking and forgot small purchases such as a trip to the store for milk. In discussing our financial strategies with Anne, she mentioned her family's cash plan... using cash rather than debit. So this month, we figured out an amount for groceries and eating out/entertainment (our two "frequently used" categories) and took that dollar amount out of the bank. The only other budget category that is irregular for us is gasoline. But I didn't want to rely on us having cash when stopping for gas, so we left that as a "debit permitted" category.

I have to say, I am pretty proud of my husband this month. I really thought this was going to result in fights over used debit cards and overdrawn accounts. But here it is, the 25th of the month (4 days to payday), and we have $5 left in an envelope, and about $18 in the checking account with no bills left to come out (we're doing a zero-based budget, we have some $ in savings!). We had a few slip ups... my husband forgot his food on a long day of school (8am to 10pm), so he bought Subway, and I got to the grocery store for a few things and realized the cash was at home. Dave would say I should go home and get the cash, but I was just too tired from errands to actually do that!

Our original budget was off by a bit... we ran out of grocery money and dipped into the "eating out/entertainment" budget quite a bit. We actually made it through this month with only treating ourselves to pizza one night, and a "quality time" lunch at Subway another time, the rest of our eating out budget went to groceries. But we had more home-cooked meals and got creative with our recent end-of-the-month dinners! Doug made pasta with meat sauce one night and I improvised a meatloaf with turkey meat, oatmeal, and BBQ sauce (recipe to come!).

Overall, we gave ourselves a B+ for this month (we reduced from an A to an A- because we used the debit a few times, and down to a B+ since our allotted money didn't go to what it was intended). But to be honest, I am pretty darn proud of ourselves! For those out there struggling with keeping on a budget, I'd highly recommend trying the "cash journey". It's very easy to track and actually helps keep us disciplined with keeping in the budget. 

We're looking forward to next month, seeing how our trimming of last month's expenses will pay off for October, and improving our B+ up to an A. Hey, maybe even an A+ (that's when we have money left over!). On that note, I'll leave you all with a picture of our "end of the month" refrigerator"... :)

Quick and Easy Spinach-Artichoke Dip

Every weekend, I am plagued by the same dilemma... what am I going to bring to our small group?? Each Sunday night, our small group from church meets to fellowship and discuss "healthy marriages", but first we share a meal together. You would think I would have learned by now to think of what to make ahead of time, prepare and shop earlier in the week, but no. Every Sunday afternoon, I say, "Ah! I need to come up with something to bring to group!"

I found this recipe and thought it seemed fairly simple and tasty... and it was! Rave reviews from the group, and one friend even commented that it was better than the spinach dip he ate at a restaurant earlier that day for lunch!

1 10-oz box frozen cut or chopped spinach, thawed

1 12-oz jar/can artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped

1/2 cup whipped cream cheese

3/4 cup sour cream

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

pita chips, tortilla chips, or bread pieces

1 lemon cut into wedges (optional)

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Squeeze the spinach between paper towels to remove excess water. In a medium-large bowl, combine the spinach, artichokes, cream cheese, sour cream, and grated cheddar. Season with salt and pepper. Scrape the mixture into an oven-safe baking dish (a 1.5 qt size works perfect!). Bake until lightly golden and heated through, about 15-20 minutes. Serve warm with the chips or bread and the lemon wedges, if desired. 

(I forgot my lemon wedges!! Oh well, there's always next time!)

Trimming the Fat...

Let me just say, I am a huge Dave Ramsey fan. HUGE! About two years ago, I took my first "Financial Peace University" course, and did fairly well. OK, I think I did a pretty darn good job; outside of the money we received from our parents for part of the wedding, we paid for our wedding ourselves. And it was a fabulous wedding :)  Once we got married, my husband and I took the course again and have been doing our monthly budget, rolling our debt snowball, and taking each Baby Step "one step at a time". So why am I so stressed out each month about finances?

The start of this new school year has had me rethinking our budget and financial habits. While we are doing fairly well, I have felt like our money is tied up in so many things that there isn't much left over for saving, debt snowballs, and treating ourselves every once in awhile. My husband and I have renewed our desire to really stick to Dave's plan. While we know that once we have two incomes, we'll have more "breathing room", we're hoping that the credit card debt is gone by then and all our second income can go to paying off those pesky student loans. In order to get our debt paid off sooner, we started with taking a look at our monthly expenses and trimming off some of the things that aren't really necessities. 

One in our family that made a big sacrifice was our four-legged child. When I bought my dog as a puppy, I had money within my budget to pay for her "daycare" several times a week; it helped with her housetraining, socialization, and saved me the time of having to walk her and give her exercise. Plus, it was nice to come home to a tired dog! (Side note, let me just say, for those thinking this "doggie daycare" is a pampered place for pooches, it's a big yard like a dog park where they can just run and play all day). When we married, we dropped her down to two days a week, but now looking at our monthly expenses, we could save $60 a month by going to just one day a week. This means more trips to the dog park, even in the midst of work/school stress, but we've already found it's a good reason to get out of the house and not think about anything else but throwing the ball to our dog. Eventually, we'll probably get rid of this luxury altogether, but this is a process after all! Baby steps, baby steps...


Another big cut to the budget was the cable. If you had asked me 5 years ago if I would ever give up my DVR, I'd answer with a resounding NO!! With today's modern technology though, DVR and even cable is unneeded. Almost any show is available to watch online, and that was the biggest selling point for me. We looked through our expenses and decided that the nice little $13 basic cable package would be a stepping stone for us. I am also hoping for the added benefit of finding other things to do than watch TV (like reading the stack of books I've been meaning to, or... take the dog to the dog park!).


There are other things we've discussed too, my husband may put his gym membership on hold and use the gym at his college (which is free!) and I've been going to the library rather than the bookstore. Last year, we looked at our phone plans and reduced minutes and texting packages that were within what we actually used rather than "unlimited" plans. 

If there are other "trimming the fat" suggestions out there, feel free to share!