More on the $1 a day grocery challenge

Another blog to look at (and follow) is http://dateam365.blogspot.com/2010_12_01_archive.html . This is Ashley's blog that she will be keeping during the challenge this next year.

Also take a look at this site to get an idea when is the best time to buy certain items, (very interesting information) http://frugalliving.about.com/od/bargainshopping/tp/Best_Time_To_Buy_Everything.htm

2 more days

Christmas is on the way!! Are you ready? I think I am! I guess at this point I have to be!

I was on my email and recieved an email on one of my lists about feeding your family for $1 a day per person. That got me thinking so I read on and found out that it is a challenge for the new year. I think I am in!! I like this idea! I am doing a little research and I am getting a plan together. Check out this blog
http://cjpattersonontheranch.blogspot.com/2010/12/working-on-food-budget.html
Jan has some great ideas and awesome goals for the next year.  In fact she just emailed me some information on square foot gardening and lasagna gardening. I can't wait to dig into that a little more!

I love the New Year! I love setting goals and working on them. Sometimes I get a little over zealous and have some goals go undone or added to the following year's list. What are your goals for next year?

More on the $7 a Meal Healthy Cookbook

I am so loving this cookbook!! The other night we had ginger chicken that was soooo delicious!! My daughter made it and she added a few extra chicken breasts to the marinade so that we would have leftovers for lunch. That was the best chicken diced up and served over a big green salad!! Mouthwatering!!

The recipes are fabulous but this cookbook is also encouraging me to try some new ideas. The other day I had run out of lettuce for a salad and I had to have my raw vegetables, so I made a wonderful pico salad.

Here is the recipe (this one is my own)

1 zucchini diced
a handful of fresh spinach chopped fine
1/4 cup cilantro chopped
1 med tomato diced
1 small onion diced

I mixed everything up and drizzled homemade Italian dressing on it. It was wonderful, but the second day it was even better. I ate it plain the first day and the next day I put in on my salad (with the chopped up ginger chicken)!! As my granddaughter says 'YUM'!!

I would love to hear if you try this one and how you like it!!

I have added a link for another cookbook by Susan Irby! I recieved an email from her today telling me that if I liked The $7 a Meal Healthy Cookbook that this one will knock my socks off!! I haven't bought my copy yet but I am excited to actually try some of the recipes in it!  She also gave me permission to share the link to her website!! I am so inspired by this lady! I hope you enjoy her work as much as I do! Go take a look http://www.susanirby.com/ .

Food for Thought

I am trying out a new cookbook!! Our family has had some really yummy meals this week. Breakfast one day was fresh fruit kabobs with a yougurt sour cream and honey dressing. We also tried out 2 cheese and spinach twice baked potatoes that were just heavenly! Maybe tonight we will try the pear stuffed baked potatoes or the ginger cilantro mashed sweet potatoes. Mmmmm! I am getting excited just thinking about it!

I know you are just dying to know the name of the cookbook! Well it is $7 a Meal Healthy Cookbook by Chef Susan Irby.

At just $7 a meal (or less), you can feed a family of four using fresh ingredients. I bought the book and dug right in. I made a menu chart and my daughters and I started going through the book and filling in with some of the yummiest looking recipes! I head to the grocery store with my list and came out spending about $270 for our family of 7 for 2 weeks! I was quite the happy camper!!

I would love to share recipes if I wasn't copyright infringing, so I guess you will have to go buy the book yourself! Then let me know what your favorite recipes are!

Ok so my younger sister talked me into starting this blog, then I watched Julie and Julia last night and got all motivated about the idea. First I need to tell you to go look at my sister's blog http://www.savvystephie.com/. She has some awesome saving tips and coupons for you there. My blog will be about making things yourself, hopefuly we won't overlap our ideas and give twice the fun!

I love making things--I always have. My goal for this blog is to try out a few new things and let you know how they turn out and tell you about some of the old tried and true things I like to make for my family. I really want to learn how to make marshmallows from scratch. I think that will be my first project.

Some other things that you can expect to see here are a recipe for english muffins, soap recipes, lotion and creams, ointments, laundry detergent, yogurt, cheese and lots more from my craft closet. Speaking of my craft closet I should take a picture of it and let you see the chaos that it is--I really need to get it organized!! Hey that would be another good project for this blog!

Let me know if you want me to try something new for you and I will see what I can do. Oh yeah and if you talk to my sister tell her that a t-shirt quilt will be one post that I will put here eventually!