My financial Year in Review

This being the last day of the year I pulled up the reports section of my Microsoft Money program and took a good hard look at last year. In short I was unhappy with how I was at managing my money and I can do way better. The Where is my money going report showed that as I expected my two largest expenses for the year were for my mortgage and my car payment followed by groceries, insurance, and real estate taxes. The same top five I would most likely see on anyone's list.  Number six is gasoline, an expense that was higher than normal for us due to two car trips to Kansas we took this last year. Again, something that I am not horrified to see. What then shocks me is the remainder of my spending habits, clothing in the top ten? Not this year. Books and Magazines in the top 15? Nope won't happen this year. My largest utility expense is surprisingly for electricity. I would have guessed natural gas since our furnace, our stove and our hot water tank all run on it. But this just is not what the numbers are telling me. I am starting a campaign to turn off lights, read my own meter (only 3 bills the entire year were based on actual readings...something the electric company could not  explain to me to my satisfaction...shame on my meter reader and shame on me for not noticing sooner), and get these bills under control. My second highest utility is my cell phone, since I am locked into a contract for yet another year no changes will be made until that time is up. Then I will most definately be finding another plan. We had a lot of special events this year which added up to a lot of money for gifts, the coming year will see a drop in this number for sure.
The second report I pulled up was the always interesting Who gets my money report. As expected my  mortage holder and my car loan holder get the lion's share. But what was shocking was who was in the number three spot: Target. Oh dear. I am going to have to end that relationship. I hate breakups but it needs to be done.
On the upside I paid off my sole remaining credit card and am on track to pay of a student loan I took to help out one of my older kids. This will allow me to begin to pay down on the principal on my car loan. My mortgage will remain what it is. Due to the recent real estates troubles that hit hard in my area the value of my property is way less than what I owe on it. Putting me upside down in that area due to no fault of my own. I cannot sell my property for what I owe and cannot rent anything similar for less than what my mortgage payment is so the only thing to do is ride it out. I guess the silver lining here is that my property taxes will decrease due to the new evaluations.
I have three simple goals financially for 2013:
1. Pay off student loan and pay down car loan principal.
2. Reduce unnecssary spending and increase savings. (bye bye Target and hello Credit Union)
3. Increase income by finding a part time evening job.
Here's hoping that the end of 2013 will see an acheivement of these goals and a much brighter financial picture!!

Dinner Menus: January 2013

Here are my dinner menus for the month. All meals are based on items already on hand with two exceptions, I will purchase two nice steaks for the dinner date night meal on the 17th and I will need to purchase one 3lb. bag of boneless skinless chicken breasts from Aldi to stretch the chicken already in my deep freezer. My food shopping list is extremely small and consists mostly of perishables and produce.
Dinner ideas based on planned overs are marked with an *. Meatless meals are in italics. I am trying a few brand new recipes and these I have put in bold print.

1. Pork Roast with sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, glazed carrots

2. Turkey and Wild Rice soup,* Basil-parmesan puffs

3. Pork Adobo, basmati rice, broccoli w/ sesame seeds

4. Hobo Stew, fly off the plate dinner rolls

5. One Dish chicken dinner

6. Roast beef, butter crumb egg noodles, Harvard beets

7. Curried Vegetable soup, Italian rolls

8. Lemon-Pepper tilapia, winter roasted veggies

9. Honey Glazed chicken breasts, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts

10.(Dinner Date Night) Beef Stroganoff,* steamed rice, green beans

11. Shredded beef tacos, Spanish rice

12. Mom’s Chicken paprikash, knuffles, corn

13. Roast turkey, sage & raisin stuffing, cranberry sauce, peas

14. Mediterranean Lentil Soup, Honey wheat rolls

15. Salmon patties with chipotle tartar sauce, homefried potatoes, mixed veggies

16. Turkey Enchilladas,* yellow rice

17. (Dinner Date Night) Steaks, roasted balsamic mushrooms, baked potato

18. Deep dish Turkey Pie,* salad

19. Cranberry Balsamic pork chops, roasted potatoes, green beans

20.  Garlic pot roast, au gratin potatoes, corn

21. Corned Beef, cabbage and noodles, carrots

22. Minestrone, Garlic and herb rolls

23. Corned beef hash,* Harvard beets

24. (Dinner Date Night)Pomegranate glazed Cornish hens, white and wild rice, peas

25. Sweet and Spicy Kielbasa, mashed potatoes, corn

26. Pineapple Rum Pork chops, baked potatoes, green beans

27. Teriyaki Pork Roast, jasmine rice, mixed veggies

28.  Adirondack chowder, corn muffins

29. Pork Fried Rice,* egg rolls

30. English Fish and Chips, coleslaw

31. (Dinner Date Night) Chicken Marsala, cavatelle with sauce, salad

Pantry Challenge and Menu Making

  Reading a favorite blog of mine (http://ctonabudget.blogspot.com/) I came across this pantry challenge that my friend Carol is going to participate in. Without being aware of it while making out my January menu plans and thinking ahead to January expenses I too was involved in a pantry challenge. I checked out this particular challenge (http://goodcheapeats.com/2012/12/prepare-to-eat-down-the-pantry-2013-challenge) and liked what I saw here about specific goals. I am going to do this! My goals in January are to
1. Eat down a lot of what we have on our pantry shelves as well as use up the leftover turkey and  ham bones from the holiday.
2. Keep my food budget to under $150. Some things, milk, fresh produce, other perishables will have to be purchased but I have limited the amount of fresh produce this coming month relying more on frozen and canned goods that I already have on hand.
3. Get back to more cooking from scratch, especially making breads/rolls myself.
4. Eliminating a lot of food waste that has been going on and which I am ashamed of. I have gotten very slack lately and need to rededicate myself to making sure that by making do I don't do without.

To these ends I sat down today and made up a month's worth of dinner menus based almost entirely on what I already have on hand. Lunches will be eaten at work/school or will consist of leftovers or items already in the house (example today's lunch will be a quicky chicken-dumpling soup made with chicken stock from the freezer, garlic, shredded carrots, herbs from the cupboard, and homemade drop dumplings) and breakfast will be the  usual variety: yogurt, oatmeal, cream of wheat, toast, bagels, english muffins for weekdays with a cooked breakfast (waffles, pancakes, egg dishes with either sausage, ham or bacon) on Sunday mornings.
As I made my dinner menus I began to see a pattern arising with at least one meal per week being soup based (I love homemade soups in the wintertime) and most Sunday suppers based on a larger cut of meat I can then create a second meal from. Thursday has been Dinner Date Night for my gentleman friend and myself (with the kids doing a DIY meal at  home) and lately he has wanted to do some financial belt tightening as well so now I make a special meal just for the two of us on this night at his house. I have planned some nice dinners that won't break the bank and which  are based almost completely on what is on hand.
I am psyched to get started !

Early January Grocery shopping

Yesterday morning the stress of the holidays finally caught up with my body and I woke up with a dry scratch throat, a cough, and clogged sinuses. Ugh. My blood pressure is on the higher side of normal so when buying cold medications I keep this in mind. Of course I was totally out of Coricidin HBP which meant a trip to the store.
Not wanting to be wasteful of fuel while I am home on vacation I considered some other items we were out of (honey, steak sauce, pastas, fresh produce) and sat down and made a small list of things I could also purchase from the cash in my purse. My goal is to not touch the money in my bank account unless necessary (gas for the car) until January. My oldest daughter phoned as I was doing this and said she was tired of staying indoors and looking for somewhere to go so I invited her to go with me. She liked the idea of getting a head start on her January shopping and offered to drive. A done deal.

We went to Aldi, where I spent $51.10. I brought home a loaf of bread, a box of elbow macaroni, croutons, grape tomatoes, granny smith apples, bananas, spinach, spring greens, baby carrots, celery,  Orange juice, two Arizona green tea ice teas, sliced muenster, three bags of chips, a package of hard salami, bread crumbs, string cheese, ranch dressing, honey, two bottles steak sauce, half gallon of eggnog, a dozen eggs, roasted garlic 'triscuit' crackers, and a dozen eggs.   Our next stop was a little local Italian grocery store where they carry a lot of items I cannot find anywhere else as well as having an awesome deli. I spent $23.76 there and brought home a loaf of Italian bread, a pound of sliced pepperoni, a jar of sundried tomato pesto, a jar of pizza sauce, and three bags of locally Amish-made (Mrs Miller's brand) egg noodles in various sizes. Our last stop was at Marc's where I spent $16.81 and brought home a gallon of Arnold Palmer Lite, a bag of fresh sauerkraut, a cucumber, a jar of pineapple preserves, a bag of broccoli slaw, a bag of Ricolla throat/cough drops, and a box of Coricidin HBP.
I now have all the salad ingredients I need to take a nice salad to my middle daughter's house for tonight's dinner, as well as what odds and ends I needed for New Year's Day's dinner and some extras besides. I spent a total of  $91.67, $8.05 from my nonfood household item budget and the remainder of $ 83.62 from my food budget. This leaves me $266.38 in the food budget for future January purchases.

Our holiday

Once again it has been several busy weeks since I lasted blogged anything. The month was filled with work, occupational therapy appointments, and lots of holiday fun and shopping. Christmas expenses were kept to a reasonable minimum. Our tradition has been three gifts per person. My gentleman friend and I share the expense and this year we chose to keep gifts to under $30 per gift. The only gift we purchased that exceeded this limit was one that was given to both my son and daughterinlaw so in essence it met our limit goal. Decorations were ones I have used for years, the tree was an expense since we cut down our own but well worth it and budgeted for. This year we did not do Christmas cards but agreed that next year we will go back to this tradition and split the cost.
Food expenses were worked into the shopping trip I made at the beginning of December and I have been able to avoid any further grocery store shopping since that trip. I baked homemade cookies
   and we have a ton leftover so treats for the next couple of weeks are taken care of. I even made a holiday tin full of santa hat pretzels as a gift for my youngest son's girlfriend's parents.

My contribution to Christmas Day dinner was a 23 lb. turkey gifted to me at Thanksgiving by my single neighbor who does not cook and the 18 lb whole bone in ham he received at Christmas time from his company. We sent him two large plates of food from our dinner and I will send over soup that I will make from the turkey carcass and the ham bone.

The day after the holiday I divided up the turkey carcass and half went into a big pot with carrots, onion, garlic , celery, and black pepper


 which after I made a batch of homemade noodles became a big pot of Turkey-Noodle soup.  The remainder of the carcass I wrapped up and put in the freezer along with ham bone from yesterday's ham. I also brought home a sizeable baggie of ham that I will dice up and add to Ham and Cheese Bowtie casserole for Thursday night's dinner.  We will end up with several dinners and probably at least one or two lunches from these leftovers! A wonderful holiday and lots of frugal leftovers to extend our food budget, so a gift to myself!

December Grocery Extravaganza

Having done a very small shop in November in order to get my financial house in order we were in need of some major shopping for December. Keeping my budget in mind of course.
I set myself a goal to attempt to do all of our shopping at BJ's wholesale club and Aldi, and to get not only nutritious foods for meals but all the items I wanted for my holiday baking. I was successful on all counts. I also spent more money at Aldi than I ever have before, leading me to beleive that if push came to shove I could easily feed my family with only items from this store.
My first stop was BJ's Wholesale club.  I have a cash back membership there and it came in handy as I received an $86.62 gift card in rewards to use towards my December purchases. My bill totaled $188.67 but after deducting a $3 coupon and the gift card my out of pocket expenses were only $100.06. Toilet paper, paper towels, paper napkins (free after coupon with purchase of paper towels) tampax, and a holiday jar candle came from the household budget and the remainder was food. We brought home 1 6 pack of Chunky Chicken Gumbo soup ( a favorite of my teen daughter who arrives home early enough from school to eat lunch here), 10 lbs. Gold Medal flour, 1 large can hot chocolate mix, 2 chuck roasts, 1 lb. hard salami, 1 large eye of round roast, 3 lbs. organic bacon, 1/2 lb. proscuitto, 1 whole boneless pork loin (which I cut into a large roast for New Year's Day, 6 pork chops, 6 schnitzel, and 1 lb cubes),  a 4 pack of Pork tenderloins, a wedge of imported parmesan cheese, 1 jar of spreadable port wine cheese, and 6 lbs of clementines.
Our final stop was Aldi. I spent a grand total of $250.05!!! I stocked up on some specialty items for holiday entertaining and the needed baking items for cookies, fruitcake, and quick breads. From my household budget I spent $ 21.05 and got trash bags, storage bags in two sizes, toothpaste, shampoo, and a couple of new cloth shopping bags. The remainder of $229 was spent on food. I came home with a loaf of bread, a bag of tortilla chips, 4 bags assorted potato chips, 1 pck plain bagels, 100% cranberry juice, 100% red grapefruit juice, 100% grape juice, 2 100% apple juice, 1 bag frozen shredded hash browns, 1 bag mini marshmallows, 1 bag holiday marshmallows, 1 box rice krispies, 2 3lb bags boneless skinless chicken breast, 1 bag crispy chicken strips, 1 bunch celery, 3 lbs. granny smith apples, 1 bag fresh cranberries, 2 pomegranates, 3 lbs bananas, 1 pint baby bella mushrooms, 1 seedless cucumber, 3 lbs. red grapefruit, 1 pck. muenster sliced cheese, 1 pck. sliced provolone, 1 bag mini chocolate chips, 1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips, 1 bag white chocolate chips, 2 cans pumpkin, 1 jar pesto sauce, 3 cans cream corn, 3 cans evaporated milk, 1 100% pomegranate-cranberry juice, 1 can fire roasted tomatoes, 1 can Italian seasoned tomatoes, 4 cans beets, 1 box baking soda, 1 can baking powder, 1 can condensed milk, 2 Cornish game hens, 3 cans chunky beef soup, 1 can pineapple chunks, 1 pint grape tomatoes, 1 pck roma tomatoes, 3 multi colored peppers, 2 cans potato corn chowder, 2 bottles steak sauce, 1 can crushed pineapple, 2 cans green beans, 1 bag egg noodles, 2 boxes au gratin potatoes, 2 boxes rice a roni, 1 bag sliced pepperoni, 3 lbs lemons, 3 lbs.sweet potatoes, 2 lbs powdered sugar, 1 pck corn tortillas, 2 lbs brown sugar, 1 bag parsnips,  1 box buttery snack crackers, 2 jars bread and butter pickles, 1 bag coconut, 1 box onion soup mix, 1 box elbow macaroni, 1 pck fresco cheese, 1 box cream of wheat,1 box granola bars, 1 bottle ranch dressing, 1 jar mild salsa, 2 pcks colby cheese, 1 ball fresh mozzarella, 2 pcks cheddar brats, 1 corned beef, 2 pcks turkey kielbasa, 2 pcks imitation crab, 2 bags baby carrots,1 bag regular carrots, 2 lbs butter (I have 5 lbs in the freezer), 1 container french onion dip, 1 quart lowfat cottage cheese, 4 assorted fruit greek yogurt, 1 bag shredded Italian blend cheese, 1 pck neufchatel cheese, 1 pint light sour cream, 1 cabbage, 2 blocks NY cheddar, 1 pck american singles, 1 box golden raisins, 3 heads garlic, 1 bottle honey mustard, 2 bags chopped dates, 1 bag string cheese, 1 container caramel apple dip, 1 bag 'oreos', 1 bag dried apricots, 1 bag dried cherries, 1 bag dried pineapple, 1 pck. English Double glouscester cheese, 1pck Red Leicester cheese, 1 jar con queso, 1 container pumpkin spice creamer, 1 jar peanuts, 4 cans mandarin oranges, 1 jar cinnamon applesauce, 1 log summer sausage.

December Menu Plans

  December Dinner Menus

To say I am glad to see the back end of November is an understatement. I am hoping to close out the year with a much better month in December and have already acheived one goal I set myself, I made my final payoff payment on my credit card! I have a month's worth of dinner menus and have done a major grocery shopping trip. Some of the meals are carryovers from November and the ones with the asterik are based on planned overs.
Here are the menus:
December Menus

1. Broiled pork chops, au gratin potatoes, green beans, applesauce

2. Roast chicken, stuffing cranberry sauce, Harvard beets

3. Creamed chipped beef on toast, Capri veggies

4. Chicken and noodles*, salad

5. Pan fried whiting, hash browned potatoes, coleslaw

6. DDN: Heather's Garlic Baked chicken, pasta with garlic & parmesan cheese, salad

7. Pork Stir fry, basmati rice

8. Incredibly tender beef stew, dinner rolls

9. Pizza and Farmpark

10. Kielbasa and sauerkraut, pierogies

11. Cheese ravioli with marinara sauce, salad

12. Crab cakes, mashed potatoes, broccoli

13. DDN: Pomegranate glazed Cornish Hens, rice , salad

14. Valeries' party

15. Cranberry Pot roast, oven roasted potatoes, corn

16. Shepherd's Pie, candied carrots

17. Corned Beef, creole cabbage, parsley potatoes

18. Honey Glazed chicken, egg noodles, brussels sprouts

19. Corned beef hash*, corn

20. DDN: Pasta with tuna and sun dried tomatoes, salad

21 Tacos, spanish rice

22. Pork Schnitzel, German potato salad, red cabbage

23. Herb encrusted eye of round, Duchesse potatoes, salad

24. CE: Pork Tenderloin Balsamico, white and wild rice, Christmas salad, green beans almondine

25: Christmas Day: Roast Turkey, Brown Sugar glazed Ham, all the trimmings

26. Williamsburg Turkey soup*, rolls

27. DDN: Beef stroganoff*, egg noodles, peas

28: Spaghetti with Meatballs, salad

29: Ham and Cheese bowties*, green beans

30. Turkey enchiladas*, yellow rice, refried beans

31 New Year's Eve: Plans to go out.

Hardships

It has been almost a month since I've had time to chat. Just as we were recovering from being without power I had a fall down some steps and dislocated my elbow which put my typing abilities to a slow and painful pecking  with my right hand. Using only my right arm/hand made my carpal tunnel flair up and my hand go numb almost constantly. Not the best the situation to blog in.
Once the plaster splint came off it was time to travel. We spent a week with family in Kansas for the holidays and had a wonderful, if slightly more expensive, time than we'd planned on.
I had originally planned on a brief run down of my financial picture for October but will skip that in favor of November. November has not been kind, we had a deep reduction in income which I immediately got a handle on by cancelling some memberships that were luxuries and reconfiguring other adjustable budget items. I was just getting started looking at additional job options when the accident happened. I now need to focus on getting the arm back to 100% before pursuing an additional job. In the meantime all the bills got paid, my car had gas, we had plenty of food, and due to the generosity of my gentleman friend we still spent the holidays with out of town family. A reminder to me that God is good, all the time. I have a plan in place for the holidays and the next couple of months. The job search will start again in January dependent on how my arm is coming along.
This last week of November will focus on December menu planning and shopping . I barely spent anything in November but was lucky enough to be gifted with a fairly large turkey from a neighbor who does not cook and with yet another turkey from my gentleman friend's company which we will donate to the extended family Christmas dinner at my oldest son's house. The turkey that was already in my freezer is slated for this Saturday's dinner with leftovers already planned out.
Looking ahead at other finances for December I am going to be making a final payment on a credit card I have not been using but only paying off and then closing this account. I am very happy about this situation and will use that additional money to pay down a loan that I hope to pay off in February. Once that is accomplished I will be left with house and car payments, utilities and insurances, all standard expenses.

November Menus

Despite losing power for five days to the recent storm I was extremely fortunate that the bags of ice I shoved in my deep freezer and refrigerator freezer kept almost all of my supplies from going bad. We lost a small bag of fish and two half gallons of ice cream. The milk, eggs, and sour cream in the fridge also went bad but the cheese and condiments all look fine. A small victory. Due to some recent financial changes this is really good news since it means I can spend about $100 for the entire month for groceries.
I based this month's menu plans on mostly items we have on hand already. We will be visiting family in Kansas for the Thanksgiving week so menus for meals while we are there are going to be discussed with my daughter later on. And because we will be incurring expenses from traveling we are doing Dinner Date Night at home this month. I have special recipes for each of these nights.
In the meantime I carried over a few dinner ideas from last month that I never used.
So far this month we have eaten : Roast beef, wild rice, green beans
Spaghetti with meatballs & salad
Pork goulash, kluski noodles, & corn.
Today's Sunday supper is going to be Pineapple Rum Pork Loin roast, roasted potatoes and candied carrots.
I am having two special weeks of menus this month, one week will be our "Victory Kitchen" week with menus based on meals from one of my favorite cookbooks: Grandma's Wartime Kitchen: WWII and the Way we Cooked.    These meals consist of:
Shepherd's Pie & minted peas;
 Adirondack Chowder with homemade honey wheat rolls;
Creamed chipped beef on toast with mixed vegetables;
Salmon cakes, mashed potatoes, scalloped spinach and tomatoes;
Steaks, parsley potatoes, and coleslaw (dinner date night meal)
Chicken fricassee, white rice and carrots 
Salisbury steaks, buttered egg noodles and Harvard Beets.

Our other theme week is International Week and these menus are:

Mexican: Chicken Enchilladas, yellow rice, corn
Thai:Pad Thai, Thai cucumber salad
Filipino: Pork Adobo, white rice, asian green beans
Vietnamese:Pho Bo (Vietnamese beef soup) with homemade rolls
Italian: Chicken Parmesan, rissotto, salad
French: Beef Bourguignon, Belgian carrots

The final week of menus that I put together doesn't have a theme, just homestyle cooking.  
Battered pan fried whiting  ( a carryover from October)
oven fries
coleslaw

Beef veggie soup (using planned over roast beef)
homemade fly off the plate dinner rolls

Spinach Quiche
dinner rolls
salad

Balsamic glazed chicken breasts
twice baked potatoes
pomegranate and pear salad

Tacos
Spanish Rice
Corn

Pork Stir fry
Basmati rice
basmati rice

You don't know what you've got till its gone

Living on the north coast of Ohio I tended to take the local weatherman's dire predictions of Superstorm Sandy's impact on my area with a grain of salt. After all 98% of the time the predictions of impending doom don't pan out. I made a few small arrangements just in case, I borrowed a camping lantern from a friend and made sure we had candles  
 and working flashlights available. I have a gas stove and knew I'd be able to still light it the old fashioned way with a lighter if I needed to, our gas hot water tank would continue to provide hot water and we had a full box of Duraflame logs for the wood burning fireplace. This time turned out to be the 2% of the time the weatherman got it right. Our power went out Monday night just as we pulled into our driveway. Since it was late we grabbed the flashlights, took care of the dogs and went to bed. All schools in the area were cancelled the next morning which meant no work for me so the kids and I piled in the car to charge our cell phones and check out storm damage. A trip through the local Dunkin donuts that still had power for coffee was a lifesaver. High winds meant not taking a chance with a fire but the temperatures weren't too horrible so we bundled up in sweaters and grabbed throw blankets and snuggies. To keep warm I made a big pot of homemade beef vegetable soup

 and lots of cups of tea. It has been a long week. Here is the reason we had no power 

 and this is some of the mess in our back yard left by the storm  

. Our power was restored after a long five days and I am so grateful. I didn't mind the candle and lantern light but I have to confess that I missed the central heating.

A Yummy Fall treat

Although we are experiencing a few days of summer like weather here on the north coast I've been craving one of my favorite fall treats: Fall Harvest Cake.
The original recipe comes from Gooseberry Patch's Flavors of Fall cookbook  shared by a woman with whom I posted for a good number of years on a message board about recipes. Most of her recipes there were big hits and I was certain before even trying this one for the first time that would hold true for this as well. In the years since first making this I've served it at school (in the days before the healthy eating initiative) and altered it slightly by leaving out the pecans and adding dried cranberries. At home here I use both. I've also experimented and decided I prefer maple sugar over the brown sugar when I have it. Brown sugar is far less expensive however.
I whipped up the batter (using the last granny smith apple) and put it in the oven!  Seventy minutes at 350 degrees and the cake was ready to come out of the oven.  The original recipe also includes a frosting but my personal opinion is that a sprinkle of powdered sugar over the top is enough. The cake is very sweet on its own.

Fall Harvest Cake
Gooseberry Patch's Flavors of Fall
Lynda McCormack

 1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar (or maple sugar)
2 t. cinnamon
2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. ginger
1 c. oil
1/2 t. vanilla extract
4 eggs
2 c. all purpose flour
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
1 apple, cored, peeled and  chopped
1/2 c. chopped pecans
my addition: 1/2 c. dried cranberries

Mix first 10 ingredients; add flour 1/2 cup at a time, blend in pumpkin then fold in apples, pecans, and cranberries if you use them. Grease and flour bundt pan and pour in batter. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 70 minutes. Cool 20 minutes on a wire rack. Serves 12

Sunday Supper and Planned Overs

It seems as if this weekend was full of meals that I had future plans for. Our Sunday supper was a delicious eye of round roast purchased at the whole sale club for $14 and cut in half before freezing. I pulled one of these out of the freezer and I seasoned it with Mccormack's Montreal Steak seasoning blend before putting in the oven.
. Alongside I made homemade from scratch genuine mashed potatoes . My favorite potato for these is the basic russet which I peel and cut in half before cooking until fork tender. Unlike a lot of folks I don't much care for your everyday potato masher, I just don't think that tool gets the potatoes as fine as I like, so I use this handy tool  the potato ricer! After pressing the cooked potatoes through this back into the still hot pot they were cooked in I add Smart balance spread, organic milk, and a smidge of salt and pepper and then beat it all together with a slotted spoon. Yum. To round out our meal I served canned corn and brown gravy (take the drippings from the roast, add a bit of beef stock made by combining beef base and hot water to measure one cup and set aside. Melt two tablespoons of butter, whisk in two tablespoons of flour until smooth and just starting to turn brown, add the broth, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until thickened. Taste to adjust seasoning and serve).
Knowing that I wanted to use some of this roast again I set aside a good amount of it for a future Beef Stroganoff dish! Two "fancy" beef meals for $3.50 each for the meat. I'll take that.

One Small Chicken..Four big meals..One tiny price

Although I create, shop for, and try to stick as closely as possible to a monthly menu plan there are times when I do go off the plan. Yesterday was one of those occasions. I've been actually craving a good roasted chicken and my friend with whom I am spending a weekend was on board. We stopped at a local grocery store and he purchased the ingredients. Total cost $11.63
I was a bit disappointed that the largest chicken they had on hand was only 4 pounds but since it was just the two of us we went with that. I seasoned the chicken and put it in the oven to roast

. A box of Stovetop stuffing mix from his pantry cupboard

and fresh baby carrots that I cooked and then candied with butter and brown sugar as well as some homemade gravy from the roast chicken drippings rounded out this meal.
This morning I took the chicken carcass and cut off a nice amount of white meat from it for my friend to warm up with leftover gravy and carrots for an evening meal for himself during the week then placed the remaining chicken carcass along with the wings and one remaining quarter leg into a slow cooker. I added carrots, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning, covered it all with cold water and turned it on low to simmer while we went about our day's activities. This stock became the basis of a chicken noodle soup lunch after I cooked and added more carrots and a half a bag of kluski style noodles to it.
After enjoying a couple of bowls of hot soup for lunch we have enough leftovers for another meal for him plus enough for me to take home to the kids for hot lunches on Monday for them!

New England Style Boiled Dinner

  Tonight I am digging into some of our favorite recipes and using one my Mom gave me (although she just called it Cottage Ham and cabbage). The weather has been blustery and damp and I look forward to having this meal simmering on the back of the stove while I do my Monday afternoon house cleaning chores. I like to add potatoes and carrots to Mom's basic recipe and serve this with corn muffins.
Here are the recipes for both of these items:

Sorta Like Mom's New England Style Boiled Dinner:
Serves 6

3 lb. smoked boneless ham shoulder (aka Cottage Ham)
1/2 head of cabbage, cut into wedges
6 small potatoes, peeled and quartered
1/2 pound of baby carrots
1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper

Place all ingredients in a dutch oven, cover with water (or chicken broth), cover pot and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer on low for 2 hours until potatoes, carrots, and cabbage are cooked through.

 Corn Muffins:
1 cup flour
1 cup yellow or white cornmeal
1/2 cup sugar (I like to use maple sugar)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk (I use sour milk)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 egg beaten
Preheat oven to 400 degrees, grease or line with paper liners 12 muffin cups. Combine dry ingredients, make a well in the center and add wet ingredients. Mix together well. Spoon 1/4 cup of batter into each muffin cup. Bake 12-15minutes until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool and serve.

Party Planning on a budget

When thinking over my October expenses I knew that they would have to include an 18th birthday party for my youngest daughter. Saturday was the big day and we had 25 people (including myself & daughter). My gentleman friend was nice enough to open his home (far larger than mine) and purchase a sheet sized ice cream cake for this. As for the menu I decided to do several chip & dip combos and two weekends ago purchased a few favorites from Robert Rothschild Farm:

I paired this spicy dip up with tortilla chips.

This one was paired with cinammon pita chips. The final dip I purchased was this one served with pretzel sticks:


Several family members also contributed some dips and chips and I made a huge salad, garlic bread, and an enormous amount of penne with homemade sauce.


Dessert was Halloween themed cupcakes my daughter made and the sheet cake:

\Total cost for food, drink, and paper goods was just under $200. At $8 per person I am satisfied with this amount and it was within budget.

Indian Corn Stew

Once again I turned to a Gooseberry Patch cookbook for inspiration and chose something from my newest fall edition: The Harvest Table.


My choice was Indian Corn stew. This got good reviews from the kids although I think it needs a bit of something added, perhaps sage? And less tomato sauce, next time I'll make these adjustments and see how it goes.

Indian Corn Stew:
1 lb bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 onion chopped
28 oz. can stewed tomatoes
29 oz can tomato sauce
2 15 oz cans green beans, drained (I used frozen)
2 15 oz cans corn, drained (I used frozen)
pepper to taste
2 c shredded cheddar cheese
Garnish: Crusty bread, butter
Optional: hot sauce to taste

In a large saucepan over high heat cook bacon until crisp; remove and drain most of the fat. Add onion to remaining drippings and saute until tender. Add stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, green beans , corn and pepper; heat through. Ladle into bowls and top with cheese. Serve with bread and butter and hot sauce if desired.
Serves 6

Pumpkin Penne with Sausage

Tonight I turned to a favorite cookbook of mine, Autumn with Family and Friends and one of the best pumpkin based pasta dishes I've ever tried. It got rave reviews from both my teen son and my young adult son.

Tonight's dinner: Pumpkin Penne with Sausage:
1 8 oz. package cream cheese, cubed
2/3 c. grated parmesan cheese
1/2 c. butter, sliced
1/2 c. milk
1 c. canned pumpkin
1/2 t. cayenne pepper (I prefer this less spicy and use 1/4 t.)
nutmeg to taste
16 oz. penne pasta, cooked
16 oz. maple flavored breakfast sausage (I prefer a classic sausage),browned and drained
additional grated parmesan cheese for topping

Combine cream cheese, parmesan cheese, butter, and milk in a saucepan; cover over low heat until cream cheese melts, stir frequently. Stir in pumpkin and spices; cook until heated through. Add cooked pasta and sausage and toss lightly. Serve topped with additional parmesan. Makes 8 servings (or four servings if you are feeding a teen boy and a young adult man with healthy appetites).