Fruit Roll-ups and Prayers!

 Well, I did it! I made homemade fruit roll-ups. Or fruit strips. Or whatever you call it.

Ta-da! It was actually SO easy. I followed a recipe here. Basically, you puree 3 cups of fresh or frozen fruit, a few TB of honey and a couple tsp of lemon juice, pour it into a saran wrap covered baking pan, spread it around and baked it at 170 degrees for 6 hours. That's it!

The kiddos each ate two, I ate some scraps (cut off the edges to make it nice and neat) and I rolled up the rest for later! I would probably add a little more honey to the mixed berry combo because it's a teeny bit tart but other than that, delicious!

I want to please ask for your prayers for my 10 year old nephew. He is very sick and has been in the hospital since yesterday. The most recent update this afternoon is that he has a rare strain of pneumonia and that/or motrin use caused him to have a really bad reaction causing blisters and sores on his face/mouth. I am not going to say the name of the Syndrome so you won't be tempted to look it up like I did. It's truly awful and very serious! He is on oxygen, morphine and an IV and is having a rough day with all of this. He will not be allowed to go home until he can get off the oxygen and can start eating and drinking. Please pray that he heals quickly and that there is no lasting damage to his eyes or his lungs. And also for my sister and the rest of the family. This has been exhausting for all of them! 

The kiddos and I spent a long time this afternoon trying to find the perfect funny get-well card to send to him to brighten his day. Not as easy as it sounds! We ended up sending a silly video card, hoping to bring him a little smile. Thanks so much!

Cheap and Yummy!

 Yesterday Ben was home, as his hours at work are shorter now, and so he, Eliana and I got to spend some time together! It was strange being just the 3 of us. Eliana definitely didn't mind the extra attention:) We had to hang around home for awhile so that our maintenance guy could do the yearly home inspection and then we made a trip to one of our favorite libraries and Goodwill. Ben scored several Shakespeare books (he is a VERY well-read individual!!) and Eliana and I found a few little treasures, too. We found a few good children's books to add to the prize bucket, a couple canning jars and a pair of summer shorts for Samuel. I also found this adorable set of Alphabet flash cards:

I must've had my phone turned the wrong way because both pictures are a little off. Oops! They are brightly colored on one side...

And have cute old-fashioned pictures on the other side. They are really sturdy and cost only .99 for the set! Eliana has been having fun with them.

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So far my first month of budgeting is going SO well!! E and I did our 2nd grocery shopping trip today and once again made it just under $100! I even found a couple of really good deals! I am not a couponer, as I mentioned in my first budgeting post, but I went ahead and checked to see if anything I was buying had a coupon and found one at Target for noodles and for pasta. I was thrilled to see they were already on sale so I grabbed 7 boxes of various noodles for $.78 each and got 3 jars of spaghetti sauce for only $2.12! Stocking up on things like that will only help my subsequent shopping trips be even cheaper!

I was much better this time about sticking strictly to my list. Last week really opened my eyes to how easy it is to impulse buy. I practically put blinders on this time and forced myself to keep walking and not even be swayed a tiny bit by the sweet 3 year old voice saying, "Can we get that?" every few minutes. I am feeling really good about this so far. We were out of eggs by Sunday night and worked hard to ration our milk so we had a little left this morning. We are going through about 2 gallons a week! This is really helping us be aware of how much/how often we eat and really appreciating what we have around the house.

And get this: (READ CAREFULLY) Budgeting meals do NOT have to be boring!! Really. So far, we have all really enjoyed the meals and I have tried several new things like Broccoli Rigatoni (SO good!), Mexican White Bean Soup (It made enough to freeze some, too!), and tonight's meal Bean Burgers on Pretzel Buns with Roasted Veggies. I will share some of the other meal recipes soon! Here is the Pretzel Bun recipe I used. They were great! Next time I would make them a little ahead of time because there was a lot of preparation going on at the same time. I would also double the recipe and freeze some. Yum!

The bean burgers were great! I started with an original recipe on allrecipes.com but changed it up a bit. It made enough for all us for dinner, a couple for leftovers for lunch tomorrow for B to take to work and 19 more to freeze.....that's right. 19:) My freezer is getting stocked with all of these extra meal portions!!

I cook up 2 lbs of dried beans this morning (and afternoon) and froze a couple of quart jars of them and had enough for all of the bean burgers!

Bean Burgers

1 lb. dried pinto beans, soaked, cooked and drained (follow directions on bag!)
1/2 cup minced onion
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
4 eggs
1 tsp garlic powder
1 TB Worcestershire sauce
Salt and Pepper
3/4-1 cup flour
oil for cooking
cornmeal

Preparation:
1. Saute onions in 1 TB oil until nicely browned, stirring often. Set aside.

2. Put well-drained beans in a large bowl and mash, mash, mash!!
3. When beans are well-mashed (or as mashed as you want), add in eggs, breadcrumbs, onions and seasonings and mix very well. Add in flour 1/4 cup at a time until the mixture is just stiff enough to form into patties. It will be a very soft mixture and your hands will get messy!!

4. Heat oil in skillet (we used our cast-iron skillet). Sprinkle cornmeal on a large plate or cutting board. Grab a handful of bean mixture and lightly pack into a ball. Gently press the ball into the cornmeal on the plate to form a pattie. Repeat on the other side.

5. Fry the bean burgers in the skillet on both sides until cooked through. Serve on a bun with cheese, lettuce and tomato. YUM!! They were a huge hit with everyone and I am so happy that the extra work of making them all resulted in 2 bags of frozen burgers for later meals!!

I served the burgers with a side of roasted broccoli and cauliflower, which was delicious!

Who said cheap has to be boring??

Park and Recreation!

 During the long (long!) winter months here, we drive by the neighborhood parks, empty of children, buried under thick blankets of snow and we dream of sunny spring or summer days when we can set the children loose again! That day finally came this weekend, after 4 1/2 very long (did I mention long?) months.

Ben had a paper to present at a conference yesterday and the weather was really nice so the kiddos and I walked to a nearby park and spent a good part of the late afternoon soaking up some much-needed vitamin D and getting fresh air!

They all spent an extraordinary length of time on the seesaw horsing around:) Zakkai brought his basketball to play in the court but had to wait for some bigger kids to leave.

Eliana LOVED the seesaw! Samuel caused a lot of trouble standing in between them:)

My trio!

Then Eliana became a conductor and took us to warmer places on the train.

It was a great way to spent the afternoon! Makes the rainy days bearable when you know more of these kinds of days are coming.

Eliana got herself alllll dressed up for church today! I did a little "tweaking" before church and swapped the polka dot pants for some pink leggings but other than that, let her be:) She gets herself dressed in wild combinations all day. She changes her clothes at least twice a day!

After church and a little quiet time, we headed to the park again this afternoon, this time with Daddy and our neighbor Mikey in tow.

Eliana did some fancy sliding today:)

The boys and Daddy played a lot of basketball and then they came over to climb on the train. Well, the boys, that is. Not Ben:)

Eliana hanging' on the swing...

Oh, to be a kid again!

Yesterday morning, the kiddos were a little rowdy so I put on a music CD I got from the library and before I knew it, they were all dancing and having a great time! I need to do this more often!

When we go to the park, Eliana takes off running and runs 'til she can run no more! She has this really cute bouncy run:)

Hope you had a great weekend!

Homemade Yummies!

 Well, this week is rolling right along! Hard to believe it's Thursday already. Eliana and I completed our first successful "budget cut" shopping trip and boy was it an eye-opener! I had NO idea that I was such an impulse buyer. I really thought that I only got 2 or 3 things extra each time and that it wouldn't add up to much. At the very least, this experience has really gotten me to examine my habits closer and challenged me to be more careful. More on that later.

I made my first homemade snack ~ graham crackers!

They smelled SO good as they were baking! The graham crackers were a hit with everyone. It was a little hard to roll them out as thin as they should have been because of the dough (very stiff) so I can work on that to improve for next time.

And there will be a next time! Here is the recipe I used. I had to used light brown sugar since I couldn't find any dark. I may even cut down on the sugar a bit next time because it was sweet enough with sugar and honey. Very tasty! Can you imagine how good s'more would be??

Next up, homemade fruit roll-ups!

Sweet girl:)

She scared awake super early this morning by the booming thunder. She cried and cried for awhile about the "scary funder." Ben brought her in to snuggle with us for our last few minutes of precious sleep. But it was too late. The continuing thunder stopped her from being able to go back to sleep. Which stopped us from going back to sleep. Bummer!

Needless to say, she is slumbering peacefully for a rare nap at the moment:)

Samuel and I have been coming up with pictures for him to bring to school for next week, as he is "Star of the Week." He specifically requested a picture of him with his Thomas trains (special memories!) and family pictures. We had fun walking down memory lane.

Man, when I look at the boys and how much they have changed, I can hardly believe it. Staring at those pictures of little Samuel with his chubby cheeks and little boy joy over trains bring a little lump into my throat. Those were precious days!

Zakkai is not in any of these pictures because he was....otherwise occupied:) Ben finally gave him a MUCH needed haircut last night. I will try to sneak a picture of him today, if I can. He has stick-straight hair and when it grows too long, he begins to resemble a scarecrow with a mullet. Poor kid. We always feel terribly guilty until we cut it!

Happily, the scarecrow is gone and Zakkai's adorable face is back again!

And I want to wish a very happy birthday to my favorite Grandpa in the whole world! His unshakable faith is an inspiration to all who meet him, especially Ben and I. We are so thankful to have his love, his wisdom and his encouragement. We are praying this year is so much better than the last few months. Love you, Gpa!

Budget Cuts and...Onions!

Our week was kick-started with some gorgeous weather today! It was 63 and sunny.....until about 2:30pm when the sun disappeared for another week or so. C'est la vie, around here! I was able to get out twice today and soak up some rays. I'm hoping I got some extra vitamin D to make up for the upcoming rainy days:)

I have been doing lots of research this weekend for my new budget cuts. I am very determined to slim down the grocery fund, if you will (haha), and have been coming up with lots of new ideas. It's going to take some hard work sometimes and I'm feeling anxious and excited all at the same time! Anxiously excited, anyone?

Ready for my goal? I am attempting to cut down our grocery budget by $100-150 a month. We have been budgeting around $600 a month for our groceries, toiletries and household needs for awhile now. And as the prices (and appetites have risen),  we have started to go over that by at least $50. It has been SO incredibly frustrating not to be able to stick within the budget. So WHY am I doing something crazy like this??

It makes no sense! It's crazy! But it's a challenge and we are going to need to make some serious cuts and changes to pay off loans and whatnot (for the next 20+ years...) groan. If we can ever get our life situation figured out, we may be setting some serious goals for paying off the loans as quickly as possible.  (But that's another story for another time in our life.) Hence the budgeting changes....follow me?

Anyhoo. My new goal is $500 a month for groceries and household needs. That includes pull-ups, toilet paper, toothpaste, you name it! I am going to attempt to spend $100 per week on food for our meals and $100 total per month for the other goods. (Attempt is the key word!!) I am really nervous! With tomorrow being the first day of April, I am making my first week's shopping trip. I have been working hard to plan a menu for the week that is simple, healthy and inexpensive. I'll even share some of my meals sometimes! I am absolutely determined not to hate menu planning just because I want to cut expenses. We don't have to be bored with rice and beans every single night. I refuse! (I jazzed up some rice tonight with this recipe and it was SO good. Ben says it's the best rice I've ever made! I didn't exactly have all of the spices so it may be even better with those...)

Some tips for cutting expenses that I have been employing and will continue to are:

*Vinegar, vinegar, vinegar! Within this past year, I quit buying cleaning supplies and we clean almost completely with vinegar, baking soda and lemons. (I still have a bottle of Clorox Anywhere spray that I occasionally use:) Vinegar is WAY cheaper than cleaning products and safer, too. I have 3 biggish to little ones, baby sit an even littler one and have a husband with asthma. I don't want harsh chemicals all over my house for everyone to breath in! Not to mention, those 3 ingredients are killer and do an amazing job cleaning. I can share some of those tips, too:)

*Cutting down meats. Meat is expensive! I often half the meat portions required in a recipe and fill in more veggies instead. I also try to plan a lot more meals without meat! We probably only eat meals with meat 2-3 times a week, if that.

* We will be eating lots of beans! Bean, beans, the magical fruit.....nevermind:) (I live with lots of boys, please excuse me.) I am going to be buying dried beans instead of canned and learning to cook them well and freeze the extra portions.

* Buying things in bulk. Not everything, just things that will be cheaper in the long run and that we will actually use! For instance, rice. We have a huge bag of rice down in our basement. Like 20 lbs, huge. I cut an opening, keep it clipped shut with a chip clip and run down with a bowl and a measuring cup whenever I need some rice. It is SOOOO much cheaper. To buy Jasmine rice, which we really like, for instance, runs at least $6 for a small container. Maybe 2-3 lbs? Our ginormous Sam's Club bag costs about double that. For more 6-7 times the amount of rice. Definitely worth it!

* I am trying to use up everything we have on the shelves instead of letting things go to waste. I'm really bad about purposefully ignoring certain ingredients on my shelves or in my freezer because either I am not crazy about them, aren't sure what to do with them or aren't sure how long they've been there! Example: Found some brown rice that I so cleverly stored in a see-through container and realized it has been expired since 2012.....I definitely can't let that kind of stuff happen anymore!

* I am going to be doing a lot of extra preparation and stocking the freezer! Example:

 

I asked Ben to buy me an onion last week and he bought a whole bag! Normal people probably buy a bag of onions but not me. Who said I was normal?? Onions and I don't share a very long history. I honestly only cooked with dried minced onion for the first 5-6 years of our marriage. I hated onions! I still do not love big chunks of onions but I have learned how to really appreciate how much better recipes are with them! I hate cutting them up, though, hence the one onion at a time rule. So, tonight I spent 20 minutes or so and diced up 5 onions and divided them into baggies for meals. Now I have 9 bags stocked in the freezer and NO onions will go to waste!

 

* I'm also planning on making a LOT more things homemade. I've always loved to make things from scratch; a love I got from watching my mom growing up. But I am going to need to take it to a whole new level to make this budget cut thing work. I am going to try to make all of our bread, tortillas included, and freeze a bunch. I'm going back to homemade laundry detergent (that took a little hiatus since I broke my food processor 6 months ago doing it! I guess I'll be grating soap by hand!), homemade snacks and I still have to do some research but I may attempt other things like lotions, etc. Think I'm crazy yet?? (um, I do...)

 

* Let's talk cereal. My 3 bambinos and their daddy are cereal mongers. I can barely keep cereal stocked in the house! I'm not as big of a fan and prefer to eat other things so this won't be so much of a loss for me. I wonder how they will all fair though when I break the news that cereal won't be so easily accessible in our house......We're going to go the route of oatmeal (whether fresh in the morning, in the crockpot or baked), cream of wheat, muffins (which I LOVE to make!), eggs, smoothies, etc.

 

The reason I'm writing this all out is a) to keep me accountable! This is really important to me and will hopefully help our family eventually get out from under the looming mountain of school loans someday. Not to mention, I'll feel so much better if I know I'm being careful with what we have and feeding my family in a healthy way!

 

b) I am hoping my journey through this might help others! I've been reading many, many different blogs, websites, stories about people's tips and ideas for this and I'm pooling a lot of it together. I can't do it all. Like I said, no chickens, no garden and I'm not knitting my kids matching outfits. But maybe I can take the dirtiness out of the word "budget" for someone and inspire them to try, too!

 

c) This is a little bit fun, venturing into a more challenging territory that will require me to quit making excuses and making impulse buys. I need to learn to have better self-discipline and also build up some confidence in myself. I think I can, I think I can....

 

d) I'll probably need your encouragement (whatever you can muster up!) sometimes when this is really hard or we are existing on rice and beans only at the end of each month or something. Or I am missing that impulse buy I really wanted to make....

 

I will write a post at the end of the first month, and hopefully each month after, about how the budgeting is going: failures AND successes. Because there will be both! And I am allowing myself some grace. (gasp!) If this is too unattainable, then I'll give myself a little wiggle room and up the budget by a tiny bit, if I need to. But I am really hoping not to.

 

I don't have all of the little details and organization worked out but I am in the process and Ben is behind me 100%. We will probably have to buy a bread machine because I really don't have the time to knead bread every single day. I so miss my wonderful bread machine that happily churned our delicious loaves and dough for 10 years.....sniff. Any recommendations??

 

Bottom line. I'm not a crazy hippy person. Just trying to be a better steward, if you will, and trying to help ease burdens and be a little more responsible. I still want to have fun and eat well and love chocolate. Just a little more carefully!

 

Thoughts?