Weekly Savings

Monday - I made some decorated envelopes using rubber stamps and some super cheap business envelopes.  They look much more fun for writing letters. I also crocheted a couple more wash cloths.


I ordered two magazines for free through My Coke Rewards.  We do not drink much soda, but my neighbor brings over bottle caps.  In return I share magazines with her. 


Tuesday - This was my busy day in the kitchen.  I made bread crumbs with the remainder of the white bread I had made over the weekend.  I used part of the bread crumbs to top my jalapeno poppers.  I ground wheat berries into flour and made two more loaves of sandwich bread.  I shredded a large zucchini.  Two cups of the shredded zucchini went into the freezer.  The other two cups went into zucchini cranberry muffins using cranberries from the freezer.  I saved money by reducing the sugar amount by half.  A Japanese friend recently mentioned how very sweet American desserts are and how she always reduces the sugar.  I have found this to be very successful.  I am not a fan of super sweet desserts. 


Lunch was big salads using odds and ends from the fridge.  I made a tomato tart for supper using a quart of yellow pear tomatoes.


Wednesday - W had to go to work for a few hours.  The only thing I needed from the grocery store was milk (on sale) so I asked him to stop by.  That helped avoid any extra purchases. 
At the suggestion of Brandy from The Prudent Homemaker, I made fig preserves.  We always have an abundance of figs.  When I mentioned my plans to W, he commented how he liked fig preserves.  I had no idea.  I used the Pomona Pectin which uses less sugar than conventional pectin.


I made several birthday cards with materials on hand.  I love sending cards and prefer to make them rather than buy them.  Pinterest is wonderful for ideas.  I discovered several cards using embossing folders that I already owned. 


Thursday - I picked a basket of tomatoes from the garden.  Some of the tomato plants are starting to look a bit sad.  I took some cuttings from the better plants to root for new plants.  These will produce much faster than starting plants from seed.


Friday - I had to be away from home a bit so I planned an easy, eat whenever lunch.  I made chicken salad using a large chicken breast from the freezer.  This gave us enough for lunch and for leftovers.


The rest of this week has been the usual:  line drying clothes, staying home, cooking meals, etc.   Overall it was a very quiet week.

Testing, Testing - Cheese Crackers and Cookie Dough

I tried out two more recipes this past week.  I do not know if any of y’all are enjoying this series, but it is certainly helping me out.  I am making good progress with the online recipes that I have saved.  It has also helped me to decide if I am serious about ever trying a recipe.  I keep some recipes for ages.  I am either making them or tossing them. 

 

First up is a recipe for homemade cheese crackers. I love cheese crackers.  I can mindlessly snack on the store bought version.  I did decide to take a serious look at the ingredients on the side of the box.  It is a long list so I set out looking for a homemade version.  There are piles of recipes out there and most are basically the same.  I opted to try this one.  It uses 5 easily pronounceable ingredients:  cheese, butter, flour, salt, and water.

 

 

The recipe is a bit like making pie crust dough.  I used my Kitchen Aid, but it should work just fine in a food processor.  I did not roll my dough quite thin enough so I needed to bake them a bit longer.  They were still delicious.  I stored half of them in an airtight container, and they were still crisp for 3 days.  They might have been crisp longer, but I ate them all.  I put the other half in the freezer.  They would get soggy if frozen and taken out.  I have been eating them straight from the freezer. 

 

The second recipe is egg-less chocolate chip cookiedough.  I wanted to try cookie dough ice cream and remembered saving this recipe.  I did only make half of the recipe.  I used regular chocolate chips as I had no mini ones.  The minis would have been better though.  I used a mini cookie scoop to make small balls of cookie dough to mix in the ice cream.  

 

 

I thought on its own the dough was a bit too salty.  We do not eat piles of salt so it could very well be my adjusted taste buds.  Apparently there is a small risk of getting sick from eating raw flour.  I decided to risk it, but the choice is yours.

 

Both of this week’s recipes are keepers.  The cookie dough will be a more occasional treat, but I can see myself making the cheese crackers on a regular basis.