Homemade Carpet Cleaner

There's some stuff you just don't want on the carpet
when you have kids and pets.
Photo by renjith krishnan

One of the “joys” of having kids around is utter trashing that your rugs receive.  If there is something to spill, they will find a way to do that.  Between two kids, parents who like to drink soda, and a cat who had what appeared to be some sort of eating disorder, our carpets look like a Jackson Pollock painting. 

The other issue with having kids and cats underfoot is that the usual carpet cleaners you can purchase on the cleaning aisle are right next to stuff like Drano.  In other words, nothing you want your kids or your cats playing with.  They also tend to be one of the most expensive items on the cleaning aisle, especially since so many of them really only have one or two uses in them. 

So I was pleased to find a carpet cleaner that doesn’t contain anything horrifying that I can quickly whip up in my own kitchen, from stuff that I always have hanging around.  The trick to this cleaner is that you can’t just spray it on the carpet and let the foam sink in, you have to actually scrub it a bit.  I used a sponge and applied it and then scrubbed the dickens out of it.

It actually works pretty well.  Unlike some of the other homemade cleaners, I can’t say it works as well as the chemical stuff you buy on the store, but it wasn’t bad either.  I think it’s going to take another application, but I have hope of salvaging out poor living room carpet yet.  One thing it didn’t help with was a bright pink stain that I think might be the result of a spilled soda or some kind of juice.  However, it did great with a number of other stains.

The recipe is simple.  Not as simple as the dishwashing detergent, but just about.  Just mix equal parts salt (we used Kosher salt), Borax, and white vinegar into a thick paste.  I used about two tablespoons of each and that made enough to treat several stains. Just so you know, this isn't something you can keep.  You just mix some up as you need it.  It's just as fast as pulling a can out from under the sink. We also sprinkled baking soda on the carpet and then gave it a very thorough vacuuming.  I plan to treat it again tomorrow to see if we can get anything more up.  I’m thinking I might try adding a bit more vinegar into the mix so I can “dribble” the cleaner on, instead of dab. 

Not bad though.

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

Sparkly clean dishes for nothing!
Photo by africa

I found a recipe for dishwasher detergent!  It’s really super complicated, so get your pens ready, okay?  Here it comes:

Mix equal parts of Borax and washing soda.

That’s it.  Seriously.  It works just fine, comparable to the big name detergents.  In fact, it actually works better than the generic stuff from Fred Meyer (never again, that stuff was awful).  The dishes are totally clean, the glasses are sparkly, no streaks or residue or anything.  

I mixed the two ingredients (which I still have a ton of by the way, despite several batches of laundry detergent and household cleaner) and have them in a plastic container under the sink.  You use the same amount that your dishwasher requires for any powdered detergent, about 1/3 cup for our machine. 

Dishwasher detergent for less than a penny a load.  Gotta love it. 

Black Bean Linguine

A new twist on pasta.
Photo by lobster20

This is a recipe that was provided to me by my cousin Tandra.  It’s an excellent choice for a healthy and inexpensive meatless meal.  Plus, it went together very quickly and was delicious!  I’m providing the recipe as we made it, with notes about how it differed from Tandra’s recipe.  Enjoy!

Black Bean Linguine

8 ounces linguine (we didn’t have linguine, so we used spaghetti)
¼ medium onion (the recipe calls for 1 whole onion, but we don’t like a lot of onion)
1 clove garlic  (we used the diced garlic that comes in a jar)
1 15 ounce can black beans
1 TBL vegetable oil
12.5-oz can stewed tomatoes
1.5 C picante sauce (we used enchilada sauce because we like the flavor better)
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1/4 tea oregano
4 ounces colby jack cheese (we used cheddar cheese)
cilantro (we didn’t add any)

We also topped ours with some light sour cream.  Yum!

Cook pasta using package directions; cover to keep warm.

Chop onion. Mince garlic. Drain and rinse black beans.

Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add onion and garlic, cooking until onion is tender.

Add undrained tomatoes, picante sauce, black beans, chili powder, cumin, and oregano.  Mix well and bring to boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.

Uncover and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring frequently, until desired consistency is reached (about 5 minutes). Place hot cooked pasta on plate and spoon the sauce over. Top with cheese and cilantro (or sour cream!!).

*****

Thanks again for the recipe Tandra!  This is one of our new family favorites and we usually have the stuff on hand.

Weekly Meal Plan 2/14 to 2/17

Image by chawalitpix

This is a short one… we’re shopping tonight, then again this weekend, so we only needed a few meals to get us through the week.  Some of the ones I found look pretty tasty though, so I wanted to share them with you.

Tuesday – Appropriately named for a Valentine’s Day dinner, Romantic Chicken with Mushrooms and Artichokes.  We’ll be serving spinach salad with it.  And I’ll probably treat myself to a glass of wine with dinner.

Wednesday – Spaghetti with kielbasa and pasta sauce, because sometimes it’s nice to just throw stuff together and be lazy.  This is one of our go-to lazy meals.  I could give you a recipe, but the listing pretty much says it all. Fresh salad on the side.

Thursday – Extra lean ground beef is on sale this week (still pricier than I like, though) so we are going to grill hamburgers and let the side dish of home fries star.  This recipe looks fantastic, so I hope they turn out as tasty as they look.

Friday – My cousin Tandra Zimmerman, posted a photo of a recipe she made on Facebook called Black Bean Linguini.  I thought it sounded great, so I begged her for the recipe.  We’ll give this one a test run and post the recipe later this week!  I’m looking forward to trying it!

Any of these sound especially good to you?  What are your dinner plans for Valentine’s Day?

Greek Turkey Burgers

One of the things I love best about these is the way the feta cooks when it’s mixed into the meat.  If there’s a hunk of feta on the outside, it caramelizes and gets that glorious crispy, crunchy grilled cheese texture.  The feta inside the burger appears at first to stay solid, and then it melts in a moment when you bite into it, bursting with oozy salty feta goodness. 

You can serve these on hamburger buns or round crusty rolls.  They are also delicious stuffed into pitas with tzatziki sauce.  We served salad on the side, with tomato and cucumber. 

Ingredients:

½ cup crumbled reduced-fat feta

2 tbsp. Italian salad dressing

2 garlic cloves, minced

A pinch of salt

¼ tsp dried oregano

A pinch of pepper (or more, if you like)

1 lb. ground turkey (lean or extra lean)

Combine the first six ingredients in a large bowl.  Add the turkey and mix well with your hands, until the ingredients are incorporated.  Shape into four patties.

Heat a pan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat.  Cook about seven minutes per side, or until a meat thermometer reads 165.  Covering the pan during the cooking time will help them get done through.  

The Weekly Meal Plan – January 21, 2012

Looks like this is going to be a regular feature!
Image by winnond

So here’s what’s being chowed down this week at our place!

Friday (last night) – Petite sirloin steak, baked potatoes, green beans

Maddie LOVES green beans.  I’m going to have to start making more at a time – they are just getting scarfed down!  We scored a good deal on petite sirloin at Fred Meyer last week, so we decided to treat ourselves.  We cut each one in half and actually stuck to the recommended serving of meat, about the size of a deck of cards.  And you know what?  It was fine.  Nobody was left hungry after dinner.  Important point here:  You don’t have to eat 16 oz. of steak!!  We have plenty of potatoes, so baking them was a no-brainer.  Good dinner and it really felt like a treat.

Saturday – Paprika Spiced Pork Chops

Pork chops were on sale at Fred Meyer ($1.88 per pound!!).  We are making the spinach sauté that goes along with this one.  Looks tasty!  I’m looking forward to it!

Sunday – Greek Turkey Burgers, salad

This uses ground turkey, which can often be found for fairly cheap.  It’s usually cheaper than ground beef and lower in fat.  Loaded with feta and spices, they are really delicious.  The salad is going to feature tomatoes, cucumbers and kalamata olives to continue the Greek theme.  I’ll post the recipe later.

Monday – Broccoli and Ham Casserole

We still have some leftover ham to use, so I found this recipe online.  It uses some processed ingredients, but I think we’ll be okay.  I don’t think it’s a tragedy to use them occasionally, as long as they aren’t the focal point of every meal.  I’m also making some changes to the recipe, like using the Healthy Request soup, low-fat sour cream and cutting the cheese, probably in half.

Tuesday – Beef Stroganoff, egg noodles, green beans

I had a taste for stroganoff this week, plus we have all that petite sirloin.   I looked for a recipe that is a little lighter than the usual and this one looks pretty promising.  We’re using low-fat sour cream. 

Wednesday – Bean and Rice Burritos, salad

This is our meatless meal for the week.  We are altering the recipe a bit.  Again, low-fat sour cream and instead of using the processed cheese, we are using good old cheddar.  I think about a tablespoon or two of shredded Tillamook per burrito ought to do the trick nicely. 

Thursday – Crockpot Pork Roast

Yes, again.  We still have another chunk of pork to use and this one just really does it for us! 

Laughing Cow Chicken and Rosemary Roasted Red Potatoes

You can probably use any type of potato.
Photo by Simon Howden.

I’m sorry, I completely forgot to take pictures of these before they got scarfed down!  I wanted to share the recipes with you, though, since it was a delicious dinner.

Laughing Cow Chicken

Ingredients: 

4 small (4-oz.) chicken breasts

12 slices ham lunchmeat

4 Laughing Cow brand cheese wedges

Shake n Bake

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.  Pound the chicken breasts to about a quarter-inch thickness.  Spread the cheese wedge on the chicken, and place 3 slices of the lunch meat on top.  Roll the chicken and secure it with a toothpick. 

Place the shake and bake in a bowl and dredge each chicken roll.  Place rolls in a baking dish sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.  Bake for 45 minutes.  Remove toothpicks before eating.

Rosemary Roasted Red Potatoes

Ingredients:

12 small red potatoes, quartered or halved

Olive oil

¾ teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed

Pinch of salt

Ground black pepper

Spray a baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Place the potatoes in the pan, then drizzle with the oil and sprinkle with the seasonings, using more or less per your personal preference.  Toss with a spatula to coat the potatoes.  Bake at 425 for about 30 minutes.

Because I had two dishes going into the oven, I decided to do them both together, using the chicken’s cooking directions.  They turned out fine, although the potatoes didn’t brown quite as much as usual.  

Tortilla Soup

Did you save your broth from last night’s pork roast?  Time to put it to good use!   This recipe is fast and versatile – it never comes out quite the same way, since I add or delete ingredients based on what I have on hand.  It always turns out fantastic though.  Here’s how I made it tonight…

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• Onion, diced (use however much you like)
• 1 lb. chicken breasts (or less), cut into bite-size pieces
• ½ tsp. chili powder
• ½ tsp. cumin
• Pork broth
• 2 cups chicken broth or stock
• 1 cup or small jar salsa
• 1 can corn
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• Baked tortilla chips
• Sour cream (optional)
• Cheddar cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. Start heating a large pot over medium heat and add the olive oil.  Once the oil is hot, add the onions and cook until they soften. 
2. Add the chicken, and cook until nearly done.  Sprinkle with the cumin and chili powder and stir to blend.  You can adjust the amount of spice you add to your preference.
3. When the chicken is nearly cooked through, add the saved broth from the pork roast and two cups or canned or homemade chicken broth. 
4. Stir in the salsa, corn and tomatoes.  Kidney or black beans are also delicious in this soup and can be added at this point.  I didn’t have any on hand tonight. 
5. Bring the soup to a boil, then turn down the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. 
6. Ladle the soup into a bowl then top with a handful of crushed tortilla chips, a spoonful of sour cream and a sprinkle of shredded cheddar.   Dig in! 

This soup makes awesome leftovers, by the way.  Sorry that I couldn’t get a picture; it tasted delicious, but it doesn’t photograph well!  I also need to find a way to un-yellowify all my pictures.  That drives me nuts!  

Crockpot Pork Pot Roast

This is one of our favorite crockpot meals and a great way to use pork loin bought in bulk.  Not only does it make enough to keep you in leftovers all week, the broth is used in tortilla soup.  Lots of flavors blend together and the pork, potatoes and carrots absorb them.  The pork cooks until it is fork tender and moist, and the potatoes are fluffy.  Sometimes they lean against the base of the crockpot and then you get a nice caramelization on the outside. 

Ingredients:

• Boneless pork loin roast (about 2 to 3 pounds)
• 4 peeled russet potatoes, quartered
• 1 onion, sliced into quarters and separated
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 3 carrots, peeled and chopped (or about 1 cup baby carrots)
• 1 cup orange juice
• ½ cup dry white wine
• ¼ cup ketchup
• Juice of 1 lime (I use bottled, and I substitute lemon juice when I don’t have lime juice)
• 2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, minced or 1 tbsp. jarred minced garlic

Directions:

1. Place the meat in the crockpot.  Add remaining vegetables, tucking around the meat.
2. In a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and whisk to blend.  Pour over the meat and vegetables. 
3. Cover and cook on low for 8 – 10 hours.  If we are short on time, we will start on high for about 4 hours and then switch it back to low.  

This Week’s Meal Plan

Trying out some new tastes this week.
Image by digitalart

Continuing with the theme of using whole foods and a minimum of processed ingredients, I worked out a plan with some new tastes for our family to try and some old favorites that always go over well.  I was able to replace the nasty chicken with 2.49 a pound chicken from Fred Meyer. Not the best price in the world, but I didn’t have a lot of choice in the matter.  What a hassle!

Here’s the plan.  I’ve linked recipes available on the internet, and I’ll create a separate post for the ones that aren't available.

Saturday (last night) – Orange Chicken with Bulgur   This was sooo good.  I was worried that the chicken might be too “orange-y” (I’m not a big fan of fruit-flavored meats, although I know some folks are).  It turned out fantastic.  The meat had just a hint of orange, and the juice created a nice caramelization on the chicken.  I don’t think I’ve ever made bulgur before, but after this, I will definitely make it again.  It was cheap (1.99 a pound in the bulk bin at FM, and 1 cup made more than we could possibly eat), filling, tasty and the kids scarfed it down.  In this recipe, it was mixed with grape tomatoes and kalamata olives (drooool) and a bit of olive oil.  Oh, and we had enough chicken that Gavin was able to wrap some up for his lunch later this week.

Sunday – Crockpot Pork Pot Roast  This is a recipe from Cheap, Fast, Good by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross.  It’s one of our favorite cookbooks, but not all of the recipes are exactly healthy.  This one fits in perfectly with our healthy eating plan and is ideal for a cold, snowy day!  One of the biggest bonuses of this meal is all the leftover pork we get and the amazing broth that is left.  We use the pork in a number of other dishes, like stir-fry or sandwiches.  The broth goes into another recipe…

Monday – Tortilla Soup  This is the recipe that uses the broth.  It’s also from CFG, and makes the best tortilla soup I’ve ever had.   The broth of the soup is incredibly savory and flavorful thanks to the boost it gets from the pork roast broth, the homemade chicken stock and the salsa that goes into it. 

Tuesday – Laughing Cow Chicken  I’ve also seen this one called “Poor Man’s Cordon Bleu.”  There’s a number of variations on it, and I’ll happily share ours with you.  We’re serving rice and salad with this one. 

Wednesday – We are babysitting some kids for a friend on Wednesday evening, so we are going the cheater route.  I have a couple frozen pizzas hanging out in our big freezer, and those bad boys are going straight into the oven.  Tossed salad will help us fill up and avoid a pizza binge. 

Thursday – Sage Pork Chops   I found this one on the web after discovering I had a batch of bone-in pork chops in the freezer and doing a search for healthy pork chop recipes.  It looks quick and easy, it fits into the healthy eating plan and it sounds really delicious.  We’re serving it with roasted red potatoes and green beans.

EDIT:  Due to some schedule flip-flopping, we did the pork chops tonight (Tuesday).  We found that they were far too salty for our taste.  I would definitely make them again, but cut back to about half the salt used in the recipe.  

If you decide to try any of these, let us know what you think!  

Greek Inspired Pasta Salad

I don't claim to be the world's best photographer,
but trust me, it's tasty!

This recipe is fast, tasty and flexible.  You can modify it to suit practically any palate.  Don’t eat meat?  Leave out the pepperoni, no harm done.  Like your food with a bit of a zing?  Sprinkle in some red pepper flakes.  If you have fresh herbs lying around, toss those in.  Basil and oregano go especially well in this.  It makes enough that you can have leftovers the next day (when it’s even better, in my opinion).  After eating our fill tonight, we still had enough for Gavin to take to work tomorrow and for me to have for my lunch. 

12 ounces whole grain pasta (we use Smart Taste penne)

2 ounces turkey pepperoni (about 25 slices)

2 medium tomatoes, cored and chopped

2 cloves of garlic (or 1 tablespoon of jarred minced garlic)

1 small can sliced black olives, drained

1 can artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped

1 teaspoon onion powder

4 ounces reduced-fat feta cheese

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Black pepper

1. Cook the pasta according the package directions, until al dente.
2. Place a paper towel on a microwave-safe plate and then place the slices of pepperoni in a single layer.  Cover with another paper towel and microwave for 45 seconds.  This step is great because it crisps up the pepperoni just a bit and also causes it to release oil, which is then absorbed by the paper towels.
3. Place the chopped tomatoes in a large bowl.  Add the garlic, olives, and artichokes.  Roughly chop the pepperoni and add it to the bowl.  Sprinkle with the onion powder. 
4. Once the pasta is done cooking, drain it and add it to the other ingredients in the bowl.  Toss in the feta cheese and drizzle with the olive oil.  Mix it very well to blend all the flavors and season with the black pepper to taste. 

Makes 8 servings, 235 calories per serving.

My Amazing Half-Price Grocery Bill

Shopping the produce section does wonders for the grocery bill.
Photo by kratuanoiy

Last night we hit the grocery store to get our supplies for the week.  On Thursday, I set up our meal plan for the week, with a focus on whole foods with lean proteins, whole grains and lots of veggies.  I was expecting our bill to be kind of high.  My jaw practically hit the floor when the total came up.  It was easily half of most of our grocery bills. 

How was this possible?

1. We didn’t have to buy many proteins because our freezer was well-stocked.  As I pointed out to Gavin, though, even if we had needed to buy a bag of frozen chicken breasts, we still would have come in under $100. 
2. We used a lot of items that were already in our cupboards.  However, we saw a good sale on the whole grain pasta we liked and bought a few boxes to keep.
3. Bagged salad was on sale for super cheap this week.  We decided that once it goes off sale, we’ll just buy whole heads of lettuce instead -- the good stuff, not iceberg.
4. Most of our purchases came from the produce and condiment aisles.  We barely touched the rest of the store.  

What meals are we having this week?  Are we going to be eating meager rabbit-food meals?  Nope.  Check out our meal plan:

Friday (last night):  Golden Chicken with Tomatoes and Olives, brown rice, tossed salad (this was AWESOME by the way, and we had enough leftover – yay, portion control!—that Gavin could take some to work for his lunch today).

Saturday :  Greek-Inspired Pasta Salad (this has tomatoes and artichoke hearts in it, so it’s pretty much a full meal)

Sunday:  Chicken Caesar Salad (we’re going to marinate the chicken breasts and cook them up earlier in the day)

Monday:  Spaghetti pomodoro, with tossed salad (we are making a few modifications to the recipe based on what we have on hand)

Tuesday:  Steak salad, French bread (we have a loaf of French bread in the freezer from Christmas, and we are using the last of a London broil – this will stretch the meat so it goes farther)

Wednesday:  Crockpot split pea soup (split peas are CHEAP, and the ham is more Christmas leftovers out of the freezer)

Thursday:  Chicken and rice, salad (not very creative this time, but it’s a simple meal that everyone likes)

Lots of variety, lots of flavor, nobody is suffering here.  And I can use the leftover from the grocery budget to put toward a bill!  Everyone wins! 

Cheap and Easy Meals with Chicken

Stir-fry is a great way to use chicken breasts.
Photo by Sura Nualpradid

Today we scored a really good deal on chicken breasts.  We got a 10-pound bag of frozen chicken breasts for $1.66 per pound.  That’s a lot of chicken at a really good price.  So, what are our plans for all that chicken?

Chicken Tacos

• 1 lb. chicken breasts (frozen is okay)
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• Soft or hard taco shells
• Favorite taco toppings

Place the chicken breasts in the crockpot.  Mix the taco seasoning and chicken broth together.  Pour over the chicken.  Set to low and cook for 6 to 8 hours. 

When chicken is ready, shred with forks.  You can add in another pound of chicken breasts to have leftover meat for nachos or enchiladas.

Poor Man’s Cordon Bleu

• 1 lb chicken breasts
• Laughing Cow cheese wedges, or cream cheese
• Ham lunch meat
• Shake ‘n’ Bake or bread crumbs

Flatten the chicken breasts using a meat mallet.  Spread each breast with a cheese wedge, or about 2 tbsp. of cream cheese.  Place a slice or two of the lunch meat over the cheese.  Roll each chicken breast and secure with a toothpick.  Cover outside of the chicken in Shake ‘n’ Bake mix or bread crumbs.  Place in a baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake at 375 F for 45 minutes or until done.

Mexican Chicken Soup with White Beans

• 1 lb. chicken breasts
• Onion
• Minced garlic
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. dried cumin
• 2 15-oz. cans white kidney beans
• 3 cups chicken broth
• Cheddar cheese

Cook chicken breasts in a nonstick skillet with about 2 tbsp. of olive oil until they are no longer pink on the outside.  Place in a slow cooker.  Add a little more olive oil to the pan and cook onion (however much you like, I use about ¼ of a sweet onion), a clove or two of minced garlic, oregano and cumin, just until the onion is soft.  Add this mixture to the slow cooker. 

Drain and rinse the kidney beans, then add to the slow cooker, along with the broth.  Stir well. 

Cook on low for about 8 hours.  When cooking time is complete, use forks to shred the chicken.  Mash beans against the side of the crockpot with a large spoon to thicken the soup.  Garnish with shredded cheese.

Chicken Stir-Fry

• 1 lb. chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• Assorted fresh vegetables, we like carrots, snow peas, celery, mushrooms, sliced
• Canned, sliced water chestnuts

Sauce ingredients:

• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. minced garlic
• 1 tbsp. rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp. ketchup
• 2 tsp. minced ginger
• 1 tsp. sesame oil

In a large skillet or wok, cook chicken in 1 tbsp. vegetable oil or wok oil over medium-high heat until cooked through.  Add vegetables and cook until desired texture is reached.  Add water chestnuts.  Mix sauce ingredients together and add to pan.  Cook a minute or two until sauce thickens slightly.  Serve over hot rice.

What are your favorite ways to use chicken breasts?

Getting Deals at the Grocery Store

Comparison shopping pays off.
Photo by Ambro

Okay, so we’ve established that I don’t rely on coupons to whittle my grocery bill down to nothing.  However, I do make an active effort to get our food bill as low as I can.  At the same time, I don’t want to eat beans and chicken soup every day. 

I use a combination of several tactics to lower my grocery bill.  I plan meals, shop the ads, shop different stores, use coupons WHEN PRACTICAL, and buy in bulk when I get a good deal.  Here’s my weekly approach to shopping:

1. Scan the ads.  My go-to store is Fred Meyer.  Not only is it practically in my back yard, it seems to have better sales and lower regular prices than Safeway or Albertsons.  I can occasionally catch a really good meat deal at Albertsons and I’ll go for that, but as a general rule, if it isn’t on sale at Albertsons, it’s going to be more expensive than anywhere else.  Unfortunately, Winco doesn’t have a weekly ad so I never know what the sales are going to be, although they do make a point of beating other sales.  They also don’t have a great selection of lower-fat foods and their produce can sometimes be crummy, so we don’t go there all the time. 
2. Look for stock-up items.  What am I looking for in the ads?  Deals on the proteins that I’m going to build my meals around.  I’m looking for really good meat sales.  If I can spot a really good one, I plan to buy several pounds so that I can get a few meals out of it.
3.  Plan my meals.  The goal is to always have enough meat for meals in the freezer (from previous stock-ups) that I can pull meals straight from the freezer and never have to buy meat that isn’t a good deal.  I see no reason to ever pay more than $1.99 for chicken breasts.  This doesn’t mean that I have to have 7 days’ worth of meat – we don’t have meat in every meal.  To keep Gavin and the kids happy, though, we usually have it four to five days per week.  Spaghetti nights or breakfast for dinner (pancakes and eggs) can fill in the blanks. 
4.  Look for coupon deals.  Once I’ve made my main meal list and built my grocery list around that, this is when I look for coupon deals.  I go through the ad with my coupon binder and look for “matches.”  This is the only way to use coupons.  Combine them with a sale and you can get a really good deal, especially on stuff like bath wash, toothpaste, baby wipes and stuff like that.  Normally I would also add detergent and household cleaners to that list, but I don’t know of any coupons that knock detergent down to a penny per load!
5. Fill in the blanks.  Some items we need pretty much every week:  Milk, eggs, yogurt, veggies, fruit, bread… These are our regular staples.  Occasionally we need some cereal, cheese, peanut butter and stuff like that.  I try to catch bread when it’s on sale and stock it in the freezer.  I need to get Gavin baking more bread! 

What’s your shopping technique for keeping costs down?

Homemade Household Cleaners: Homemade Laundry Detergent

In our quest to continue to find more ways to cut back, we have been experimenting with homemade household cleaners.  Since the spray cleaner was such a success, we decided to go ahead with laundry detergent next (plus, conveniently, that’s what we were scheduled to run out of next). 

I prefer liquid laundry detergent (it just seems like powders don’t rinse clean), so I looked around until I found a recipe I liked. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Fels-Naphtha – this is a bar of soap that can be found in the laundry section of your grocery store.  Apparently you can use Ivory soap as well, but we went with the Fels-Naphtha since everything I was reading recommended this.  At Fred Meyer, it cost about $1.50.
• Arm & Hammer washing soda – Take note:  not baking soda, washing soda.  This was right next to the Fels-Naphtha at Fred Meyer.  The cost was about $3.50.
• Borax – We already had a box on hand from the spray cleaner experiment.  How convenient!  But, also found in the laundry section.  This was about $3.00 when I bought it.

Directions:

1.  Cut off 1/6 of the Fels-Naphtha bar.  Although most instructions tell you to grate it, it's actually really crumbly.  You can actually just chop it up with a knife the way you would baking chocolate.

The crumbled Fels-Naphtha

2.  Dump the chopped Fels-Naphtha into a large saucepan.  Add 3 cups of hot water.  Heat gently until the soap melts.  This took a little while for us.  Also, be careful how much you stir it, since it gets foamy.

1/4 cup washing soda

3.  Once the soap is melted, add ¼ cup washing soda and ¼ cup Borax.  Stir gently until completely dissolved.

1/4 cup Borax

4.  At this point we were ready to transfer the mixture to our big stainless steel mixing bowl.  First, we dumped 2 cups hot water into the mixing bowl, then gently poured in the soap mixture and stirred a bit to mix.

The melted soap combined with water, washing soda and Borax.

5.  We added another 11 cups of hot water.

At this point, the mixture needed to “set.”  We put it aside to cool.  Our whole kitchen smelled really soapy.

After letting it set for a few hours, we checked back on it.  It was congealing all right!  Using a funnel, we poured it into the detergent bottle we kept for the occasion.  Reduce, reuse, recycle!  This part was kind of tricky.  It definitely took both of us.  The consistency was rather uneven and gloppy, but apparently that’s pretty normal.  The important part, after all, isn’t what it looks like, but what it cleans like. 

Mmmmm, yummy!

This stuff is supposed to work out to ½ cup per load of laundry.  We decided to really put it to the test.  We had Elias bring a blanket from his bed that was in definite need of washing and ran it through with the new soap.

When it came out of the dryer, it smelled fresh and clean!  Victory!  Hopefully it doesn’t gel too much as it sits longer.  We’ll see how it goes and I’ll update you as needed.  The best part?  The cost of this stuff works out to about a penny per load.  Try to beat that at the grocery store.

Let’s see, what can I make next?  What else have you guys tried that’s been successful?

 

The Great Chicken Broth Experiment

Make your own chicken broth!  Now!

Photo by winnond

Making my own chicken broth is another one of those “la-di-da if only I had the time” prospects (kind of like making my own cleaners).  I always thought of it as something that took all day, was messy, and kind of pointless.  After all, I would tell myself, I can get 4 cups of store brand chicken broth for about 2 bucks.  What’s the difference, right? 

After we made our roast chicken the other day, we hung on to the carcass.  Desperate times call for desperate measures and all that stuff.  At our trip to the store, we picked up carrots and celery, spending about a buck. 

When we got home we got out the big blue stockpot (I suppose there’s an irony in calling it that, since this was the first time it would ever actually be used for that purpose).   Into the pot went the chicken carcass, followed by a palmful of peppercorns, a quartered onion, 3 roughly chopped carrots and 3 celery stalks broken into quarters.  We ran cold water into the pot until the whole thing was covered and then threw in a little bit of kosher salt. 

We got the pot boiling and then brought it back to a simmer.  Soon after, the whole apartment filled with a fantastic smell.  Remember the herbs that Gav rubbed on the chicken when we roasted it?  There were still some sticking to the carcass and they floated into the broth, adding to the aroma.   We checked on it periodically, skimming off the foam.

We let it cook for about four hours, then poured it through a strainer.  Wow.  The broth was golden and rich.  We each took a taste and let me tell you this – I am never buying chicken broth from the store again.  This broth was so flavorful, you could taste the hint of the herbs and seasoning.  It was savory and delicious. 

We packaged up the broth into two cup containers and stored it in the fridge to finish cooling before it went into the freezer.  All in all, for the one dollar’s worth of vegetables, we got 10 cups of the best broth I’ve ever tasted.  I’m looking forward to cooking with it! 

Our Recipe for Roasted Chicken

Need an idea for a fresh whole chicken?

Photo by Freedigitalphotos.net

We are still working through all the chickens from Gav’s mom, and we’ve been trying out different cooking methods to see what we like best.  Maddie in particular is an absolute chicken fiend.  She scarfs down her serving and then starts demanding more.  Whole chickens are a wonderfully economic dinner choice.  You can often find them for only 79 cents per pound, and I don’t think you need me to tell you that that’s a good deal.  Plus, they often have enough meat for leftovers and you can use the carcass to make homemade chicken broth (more on that soon).

The other day we were set to try out a chicken in the crockpot recipe, but the chicken didn’t get pulled in time to thaw, so the crockpot was out.  We decided to go ahead and roast it in the oven.  Gavin mixed up a seasoning blend and prepped the chicken.  What we had later was some of the best roast chicken we’ve ever made, and we wanted to share the recipe with you:

Roast Chicken

Gav didn’t take exact measurement of the ingredients when he was measuring them, so adjust according to your own personal taste preferences.

Mix the following in a small bowl:

• Garlic powder
• Thyme
• Paprika
• Rosemary (crushed a bit to release the flavor)
• Black pepper
• Kosher salt

Rub the chicken all over with a bit of vegetable oil, just enough to make the skin glisten, not so much that it’s dripping.  Rub your spice rub into the skin.  Chop up an apple and place it and any remaining spice rub into the chicken’s cavity.

Place the chicken on a roasting sheet and cook at 350 degrees for about  1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the juices run clear.  You may wish to use a cooking thermometer.

The chicken was well-seasoned, juicy, just right.  Gav pulled it off the bone and we served it with a side of seasoned rice and a green salad.  It was delicious, even if we do say so ourselves!

My Conversion to Homemade Household Cleaners

Homemade spray cleaners are super cheap and much 

easier to make than you might think.

Photo by Ambro.

This is something I’ve pondered for a while, but never had the guts to actually try.  Could I really save money doing this?  Was it worth the extra effort?  What is the benefit… really?

Looking for more ways to cut our grocery budget down finally inspired me to give it a whirl.  I had noticed that Gav had added “spray cleaner” to a recent grocery list.  We were running low on our usual cleaner, a Seventh Generation product I liked.  It smelled nice (thyme and lemongrass!), didn’t have freaky ingredients and cleaned well. It’s pretty pricey though (we had purchased it with a coupon on a half-off sale) so it wouldn’t be practical to keep purchasing it.  Store-brand cleaners usually aren’t that awesome, so I figured now would be the time to give this experiment a go.

I researched cleaners on the internet, found one that looked easy and cheap to make and I had all the ingredients except one.  So I put Borax on the list and went for it.  At the store, I was astonished at how cheap the Borax was!  Only $3 for this huge box – and I only needed 2 teaspoons for the cleaner I was making!  So for less than the price of my normal cleaner, I would get… well, I’m not going to do the math, but suffice to say, it’s a LOT.

So the Borax sat up on the shelf in the laundry area for a week or so until we actually ran out of cleaner.  Today was the big day.  We’ve got company coming over and I needed to clean the bathroom.  I rinsed out the old bottle (hey look, reusing plastic bottles too!  Shouldn’t that be worth bonus points or something?) and mixed up a batch:

Homemade All-Purpose Cleaning Spray

In a 26-oz spray bottle combine

4 Tbsp. vinegar

2 tsp. Borax

Hot water until almost full.  Gently swish to combine and dissolve the Borax.

Add a few drops of mild dishwashing detergent, and about 10 drops of your favorite essential oil.  You could leave out the essential oil if you don’t care about whether it smells nice or you don’t have any on hand.  I had lavender on hand so in it went.

Clean!

IT WORKED.  Like a charm.  It cleaned the toilet nicely, along with the counters, the light switch plate and the cupboard doors.  And it smelled really nice.  My son has toilet issues, so our bathroom can sometimes get icky, but this stuff cleaned it all.  Plus, the vinegar is a natural disinfectant, so I don’t have to worry about germs.  

When we run out of laundry soap, I’m planning to try making my own batch.  Since I already have the Borax, all I’ll need is some washing soda and Fels Naphtha.  It only takes a couple minutes to mix up and it’s a huge savings.   I can't wait to see what else I can make! I confess -- I’m converted!

The Weekly List

Time to make this week's grocery list.

Image by digital art

One of the easiest ways to keep costs low when grocery shopping is to look at the weekly ads and try to tailor a weekly meal plan around that list.  This week, we also had a lot of stuff in the cupboards to work with as well.  Take a look at our shopping list and see how we're trying to keep costs down.  

bread 

english muffins

breakfast sausage

bacon
milk,  soy, 2%

Eggs

half n half (2 cups)lunch meat?

refrigerated pie crust

Lunches x3

9 oz cheese tortellini

cat food

spray cleaner (i think)

apples (78 c/lb)

2 cans white kidney beans 

3 cups chicken broth

Idahoan potatoes (10 for 10)

1 can condensed tomato soup

2 cups vegetable broth
coffee

parmesan cheesesugar

As you can see, we have both processed and fresh ingredients as options.  I listed the apples since they were on sale for a good price, but we'll pick up some additional fruit as well.  I'll post later, after we shop, to show you what we purchased that wasn't on the list.  Hopefully not too many items!  The list isn't terribly long, and it's mostly back-up ingredients and filling in the blanks in the recipe.  Here's what's on tap for dinners this week:

Monday -- Chicken Chili with White Beans (crockpot)

Tuesday -- Pancakes, Sausage and Eggs (breakfast for dinner, a cheap way to eat)

Wednesday -- Crockpot Whole Spice-Rubbed Chicken

Thursday -- Tomato Soup with Tortellini

Friday -- Home Bake Ham with Hashbrowns (one of the "meals-in-a-box" from Gav's mom)

Saturday -- Quiche

I haven't added side dishes yet, but we'll probably have corn bread with the chili, potatoes with the chicken, salad with the soup and bake, and fresh fruit with the quiche.  

What's For Dinner? Potato Parmesan Soup

As part of our money saving strategy, we are always on the lookout for inexpensive but delicious and -- most importantly -- kid friendly recipes.  We'll be sharing the best of these with you.

The crock-pot is a fabulous invention for folks on a budget.  It can take the cheapest of ingredients and transform them into something fantastic.  Whether you're working with cheap stew meat, whole chickens or a mess of vegetables, you can toss them in the crock-pot and have dinner.

Potato Parmesan Soup


8 white potatoes, peeled and cut into evenly sized cubes
6 cups chicken broth
1/2 of a sweet onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon Johnny's Seasoning
1/4 teaspoon sage

Combine these ingredients in your crockpot.  Set to low, and cook for about five to six hours, until the potatoes are nice and tender.

1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup whipping cream (half-n-half or regular milk will work fine, too)

Mix these together in a bowl, stirring until smooth.  Add the mixture to the crockpot

3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
8 cooked and crumbled bacon strips
1 1/3 cups cream or milk

Stir all of these into the crock-pot.  Cover the pot and cook for about another 30 minutes, long enough for it to thicken.  Top each serving with additional cheese and crumbled bacon, if you like.

This recipe makes about 12 servings.  Which means..... LEFTOVERS!!  This soup stores well and heats up nicely in the microwave and tastes even better the following day.

Cost per serving: $1.09
(Note:  I didn't include items that are typically in our kitchen, like the spices and flour, when calculating the price per serving of this recipe.)