Signs of the Times/Free is good!

Ken took this photo of Brady's hand and piggy bank and it kind of symbolizes my thoughts on how things are going lately with our economy. A few things that happened recently:

Bastian has not brought homework home for weeks. Not since mid January (I think). He told me his teacher wasn't doing homework anymore. I was a little skeptical so I emailed her. He was right, due to budget cuts they no longer have the paper to copy and send home homework packets weekly. Wow. I think they should email them and I could have him do the work online or I could print them off.

I tried several of the recipes that I mentioned in last weeks post. I am trying to cut my food bill down. I made the granola (which was yummy), I added up calories and fat and decided I need to modify the recipe before I make it again. I made Pita bread and that was simple, cheap, yummy and low cal, low fat! I made granola bars that are similar to Nutrigrain bars and they turned out awesome. My kids love them.

Tonight is our pizza/movie night. I am thinking how to cut the cost on that. Usually we order 2 large pizzas to feed our family of 6. We need to be more healthy so I was thinking to order just one pizza and make a big side salad and some homemade bread sticks. We will see how that goes over...

I buy the 93% lean hamburger and we eat that with a meal 1-2 times per week. The other day it occurred to me that we don't need to use an entire pound of hamburger (like most recipes call for). When I bought the last hamburger I divided it into 3/4 pound bags and made a casserole with one portion already. I really couldn't tell a difference. This will save money and I don't have to cut back to the cheap hamburger. (When I was a kid my mom bought ground turkey for 29 cents a pound because it was undesirable at the time, we didn't love it but it is sure a contrast to how things are now)

I was mentioning my meat cutbacks to my sister and she said one recipe that she modifies is Hamburger Helper. She uses one box and only 3/4 lb meat. She follows the directions until it is ready to simmer and then she puts it on a really low heat instead of medium heat. The result is much more soupy. She then adds some other cooked egg noodles that match what came in the box. After a quick stir the whole thing makes more servings due to the extra pasta and the sauce covers it all. I sometimes make Hamburger Helper so next time I do I will try this.

I saw a video online today featuring a 91 year old lady cooking depression era meals on the cheap. She made a meal out of chopped, peeled potatoes fried in oil with onion and cut up hot dogs. She called it poor man's supper. I think you could feed my family for less than $2.00 on that meal.

I read some other blogs that recommend that you go to your favorite restaurant websites and sign up for the email lists. Most of them offer something for free when you do. I am really looking forward to getting my free Coldstone ice cream (on my birthday) and my free blizzard from DQ. Ken and I went to Shari's restaurant the other day and found out that kids eat for free with the purchase of a 99 cent drink on Saturday nights. Ken and I could eat there for $15.00 + $4.00 for the kids and we could eat out for less than $25.00. We rarely eat out with the kids anymore because we just can't afford it. Ken and I both were raised in families that didn't dine out. I remember when I was really little my dad took us to McDonalds for ice cream cones and we thought that was a real treat. I cannot remember a single time that we went to dinner when all of the kids were at home. The most we had was papa whatever's take and bake pizza with a movie rental. My kids are spoiled by comparison.

What are ways that you are cutting back? Anyone have ideas for me?

Wheat is for Woman

Some of you know that I like to store food and other home items away for the rainy day. I enjoy finding out how to make things cheaper and more nutritious/ healthy/ less processed. Tonight I attended a class with my mother in law that was FABULOUS! The class was taught by a lady named Mary Ann. Mary Ann does classes once a month for 5 bucks per person. She demonstrates some of her recipes and has a sample of every recipe she talks about. All of her recipes are tried and true. Everything I tasted tonight was sooo good!

The class was two hours long and we ran a half an hour beyond that. Some things that she taught about were: Breads, pie crust, crackers (saltines, wheat thins & graham), muffins, cereal (wheaties, grapenuts, granola, bran flakes & gluten crunch), rolls, tortillas (corn & flour), pita pockets, granola bars and bagels. She gave me recipes for all of these things and a few others too. ALL of her recipes but one were made with ground hard white wheat.

She also talked about some products that she uses like canned butter that has an indefinite shelf life. She talked about what kinds of grinders she likes and why. When she passed the samples of her cereals she passed some of the milk that she uses. It is a mixture of the dry milk that you can buy at the cannery and a product called Country Cream. She makes it for about $.50 cents a gallon less than the stuff you buy at the store and I HONESTLY could not tell a difference (this coming from a girl that is somewhat scarred from a childhood of powdered milk and goats milk (neither of which taste anything like cows milk from the store.

I am so thrilled to learn all of these recipes. I stay at home and I have time that I can make my own bread and crackers and all of these things. I am positive that they are far superior (nutritionally) than anything I could buy and (I would bet) way cheaper as well.

Next month the class is about making meat substitute from gluten and other gluten products (like the aforementioned gluten crunch cereal). I learned that gluten is the protein part of the wheat. April is a milk class where Mary Ann teaches how to make cheese spread & cream cheese from dried milk. I think there will also be recipes for making other things with dairy. I am thrilled that I found this resource! If any of you would like the recipes leave a comment and I will forward them on to you. I plan to add my notes onto the typed recipe. Mary Ann sent some of the dough around on some of the recipes so you can see what it looks like in the process. Sometimes the recipe doesn't accurately describe how it should feel/look.

I wish I could convey to you how yummy this stuff actually was. It is super healthy too. I was shocked. I never thought that whole wheat would taste so good. I never thought to make my own wheaties or crackers either. I think my mom tried to make wheaties once and the outcome was not the best. The grapenuts I tried tonight tasted good (I hate the ones at the store because they feel like I might chip a tooth while chewing).

I will post when I try out some of these recipes on my own. I think first up will be homemade granola and homemade bisquick mix. I can't wait. I don't own a wheat grinder yet so that is now at the top of my list of things to buy ASAP. Anyone out there have a grinder that they love? Mary Ann's grinder is 40 years old and works like a champ. I kind of want one that is going to last.

Stepmom - multiple post day

With my personality type, I like to do things myself. I feel (generally) that you will not do it as well as me and that you will not do it the way that I want it done. Please don't take offense. I think this about everyone. It usually takes a long time to explain how I want it done and even then - it could be misunderstood. I don't like trusting coworkers to do things for me because (invariably) they will make me look bad. I don't delegate. I pack our entire family for trips. I think I am this way because I have been let down a lot by others. I know others in my family are afflicted with this also. I know that this is a flaw of mine.

Becoming a stepmom has been my Heavenly Father's way of teaching me to let go. I have children that don't listen to me the way that Brady does. I have kids that like to cook in the kitchen and I know that they aren't going to do it how I would. The other day Kayla wanted to make cookies. I dread things like this. Having been though this same thing once before with a bad outcome, I said go ahead and I stayed in the living room reading my book. Kayla found the recipe and all the ingredients and put the cookies together. She then made balls and put them on the pan. All of them. The entire recipe. This was the result. I called them Kayla's Famous Honeycomb Cookies. I told my husband that he should be proud of me because I stayed out of it the whole time. I could have prevented this. I could have made beautiful round cookies all the same size and color. Instead Kayla learned a lesson about reading the recipe carefully when it says to place the cookies 2 inches apart. Today when she was making cookies she asked how far apart that was. I told her it was about three finger widths and showed her. She made cookies today that were perfect and round.

Brady's Haircut - Multiple post day

Brady watches others play Guitar Hero. The characters on that game are all rock stars with extreme hairdos. Brady needed a haircut recently and we went to the mall. He told me and the stylist that he wanted his hair to stand up in the middle like a mohawk. I convinced him that it was called a fauxhawk. The stylist began to cut and asked Brady at the end if that was what he wanted. He said no, that he wanted less hair on the sides. I think he wanted the real mohawk. Since we don't go for extreme hair at our house, Brady settled for hair on the sides and a spiky top. He is so cute!

Ken's Pictures - multiple post day

Ken is a photographer. He loves it. He has a blog that is linked on my blog page. He made a goal to take (at least) one picture a day for the entire year. So far he has not missed a day. Last night he spent over 2 hours taking pictures of my friends twin baby boys. His first infant photo shoot. I had fun watching the whole thing. He is really good. He said he might not update his blog and just keep his photos on Flikr. If you click on any of the photos in his blog it will take you to his Flickr page. He will continue to post in there.

I have been so busy living life I haven't posted in a while...

Hello,

I thought I would just make a big post to get you caught up on what I have been up to.

My last post was on Christmas and the day after I put all the Christmas crap out on the table. This was the amount of food that is not normally in our home. It was delicious but as you can see it is way more than we need. I thought a lot about how much I have as compared with other less fortunate people.

The Sunday after Christmas we drove to Washington and spent a couple of days with Sara and family and Tracy. We had been planning the trip for a part of our Christmas present. The weather was so bad the days just before and just after Christmas we were sure we would have to cancel the trip. Ken went to get the kids that Sunday morning and there was a break in the weather... so we decided to go. We were packed and on the road within 3 hours. (a pretty mean feat for a party of 6). We drove straight through (via Portland) with a quick stop in Hermiston for lunch. We arrived a little after 8 pm local time. We spent the next day recuperating and then we drove to Port Angeles, Washington and took the ferry to Victoria, BC CANADA!We visited all the sights including Butchart Gardens (which was pretty even under all the ice) and the Parliament Building. This picture of Butchart Gardens was taken though a viewing window to a greenhouse. It was 32 degrees out and we walked all over the place. We drove out to see The Aerie (a really cool place that we might have stayed if we did not have the kids). We stayed at a lovely hotel called Harbour Towers. We had a room larger than just about every apartment I have ever lived in. Our room had a harbour view and 2 bedrooms (with doors) and 1 1/2 bathrooms. We even had a balcony, kitchen and dining room with a table and chairs. The first evening we shopped for groceries and proceeded to eat all but our last meal there at the room. We enjoyed all the things at the grocery store that we don't have here. Ken took a photo of two things we don't have:

Smarties called Rockets and M&M's called Smarties. We also got Dill chips and tiny Lindt truffles, each of the kids got to pick something Canadian at the store that we don't have here. Some of them were good things others...not so much.

We returned to Washington on Brady's birthday (Jan 1) and drove back to Sara's. We hung out there for another day and then drove home. It was a fun trip. We also learned that our kids are old enough that we can survive in the car all day with just stops for gas and one stop to eat lunch.

Since returning home I had planned to post about my new years resolution and other thoughts. I did think about the new year and some goals that I want to accomplish. So far, I have worked most on Ken & my goal to prepare a larger food storage for our family. I have done pretty well at this goal. I purchased shelves and rearranged our home to bring the storage we had in from the garage. I have organized more and put so much more out in the garage. I wonder if we truly need all the things that we have. We moved all the kids toys into the back room at our home and they have been earning them back at a rate of one a day (if they are good). I think whatever is left on the 5th of March should go to the DI. Clearly we don't need so much. Funny thing is - the kids haven't missed the majority of the things in there.

Tomorrow is Kayla's birthday and I am making her an Oreo cake. Two layers of chocolate cake with vanilla custard in the middle and frosted with vanilla frosting with crushed Oreos on the top. It should be yummy. She is turning 11 this year. That is a little jarring to me. She is nearly as tall as me and we have the same size shoe.

This week I have been doing some spring cleaning. I cleaned my carpets. Whomever decided to put carpet in the dining room should be shot. That is the worst area to clean.

A couple of weeks ago I visited a friend of mine that bakes all of her own bread. I had previously discarded the idea as too much work and not any value for my time. After all it is just 88 cents a loaf at Winco. She informed me that she bakes for 12.5 cents a loaf and it isn't full of preservatives or high fructose corn syrup. I gathered all the recipes I have and I have baked my own bread for the past three weeks. It is delicious, if I may say so myself.

Last year I was called to work with the Cub Scouts in our area. I have not really looked forward to this job for the most part because it is a real challenge to get all of my kids taken care of and pick up 4 other boys and make it back to the church on time for things to start. It ends up being a lot of work. I have learned that I usually just learn to love something and things change. I do not love this thing yet so it remains.

Today the kids were out of school for some reason. It seems they are out of school a lot on days that are not holidays. Kayla had the idea to make valentines and cookies and deliver them to the nursing home down the road. We drove over while dinner was cooking in the oven. We arrived just as the residents were gathered in the dining room. We went around to the tables and offered cookies and the kids distributed valentines with Disney Princesses and Transformers and Madeline, made out to Grandma and Grandpa. The people were so happy to see us. One lady asked Bastian for a hug. One guy had me wheel him down to his room so he could get stickers for all the kids. They were really sweet.

Happy Valentines Day to all of you! We went out on a date last week and we have the kids all day tomorrow. We will be celebrating at home. Plus we have Kayla's birthday party and a special dinner planned.

I am really excited about 2009. I am not thrilled about the state of the world/government/economy/and our future kazillion trillion bazillion dollar national debt. I am happy with my family, our home, our future. :)