FREE eBook: 42 Recycled Crafts

I just had to share this with others - I have been looking for new crafts to do with my older daughter and I came accross this today in a post from Frugal Living...

FREE eBook: 42 Recycled Crafts

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Consignment Shopping

Well, our older daughter is turning 4 this week and has officially grown out of all of last summers cloths. With the weather getting nicer it is getting harder to dress her. She got some amazing hand-me-down cloths from a friend that I'm super grateful for because she never gets free used items. There were lots of summer dresses and in fact she LOVES dresses so it was perfect (actually grandma also made her several dresses that she is loving and homemade items are yet another more for less blog aren't they). The problem is it is a little to cold still for a sun dress so we allow her to wear them with shirts underneath - well after trying on 3 different shirts this morning I realized the poor girl needs some shirts :)

I sent stay-at-home daddy on a mission today with a list of local children's consignment shops to find summer shirts for our daughter. He is headed to Small Wonders Consignment on Foster in SE Portland and maybe Goodwill on 52nd and Woodstock as well. I know some day we might just have to brave the giant parking lot of cars to get $5-7 geranimals brand shirts at WalMart but somehow consignment shopping just seems more natural to us these days. Big discount stores can certainly be cost effective I suppose, but all too often I drop our daughter off at school and see another child wearing the exact same shirt our child had on yesterday and I think - hay, they shop at Target too. I can't wait to see what he uncovers and I hope he enjoys it as much as I do (who am I kidding...)

Meatless Monday

This weeks Meatless Monday will be a meatless birthday party extravaganza. I took the baby yesterday and did our organic whole food shopping for pita bread and hummus, and some organic pasta. The plan is to grab fruits and vegetables from the local stand on Thursday and make some magic on Saturday. The meal will include vegi kabobs from the grill, hummus and guacamole dips, fruit - lots of fruit (since we are starting to see a few things local and from from CA come around our way), and some mac and cheese for the kids and kid in us adults. Drinks were purchased in bulk and we have this crazy idea that we will not be using disposable anything (I hope we have enough of everything). With this plan we we are busting out the grill for the first time this year so now I'm on the hunt for meatless Monday grill food (mmmm... portobello mushrooms). If anyone has one please share. And watch for party pics coming soon!

Oh and FYI that Lentil soup from Deonne was AMAZING! Plus last night we had some miso soup with tofu and udon noodles in it and some veggie pot stickers on the side (best way to get veg in the kids). So I think shopping at the Asian market paid off well for us last week.

More Cooking Resources

Why do all my posts come back to cooking and yet I don't actually feel like a good cook. Maybe the world is trying to tell me something.

Anyway, I saw a friend fan this blog and had to share it - it is right there with many of the ideas we are trying to improve in our own house. Check out Cook With What You Have and if you are here in Portland she teaches cooking classes. I have to say that I'm very interested in her mother daughter cooking lessons.

I promise to try to talk about something other than just cooking in a blog post soon!

Why would you eat breakfast in a bowl - in your car?

I’m driving in this morning (something I already feel guilty enough about and am contemplating trying to change) and I hear a commercial for BK that talks about a manly breakfast on the go that comes in a bowl… oh and it is only $2. The only breakfast I eat in a bowl is oatmeal (you know healthy oats and stuff) and I actually think $2 is too expensive for something so cheap to make on your own. But this got me to thinking about how I’m really a breakfast person and I have been pretty creative with bringing my own homemade breakfast on the go lately (I'm not eating in my car - I promise). So I thought I would blog about breakfast today.

I like protein for breakfast most days – oatmeal is easy but I really like egg sandwiches (or you could make it a tofu scramble). I picked up eggs at Trader Joes ($1.79 per dozen – the best deal I have found) and scrambled six of them up. I threw in some cheese (Tillamook cheese here is usually $2/$5 at Safeway so $2.50 and I only use like 1/3 of the bag) and a little bacon we had left over from another breakfast (you could skip the bacon and better yet throw in some veggies like mushrooms or peppers if you like them all in all you add maybe another $50). I placed the scramble in between 2 slices of whole wheat or whole grain Oroweat sandwich thins - (100 calories and 5 grams of fiber and cost around $3.50 but there are lots of coupons out there for them right now) this is the best breakfast sandwich I have ever made and paired with a little yogurt from TJ’s I’m one happy person in the mornings. I figure it cost me roughly $6.00 to make 6 sandwiches and I guarantee you the taste better than breakfast in a bowl


Are you a breakfast person and if so what are your tips for eating cheap and healthy for breakfast? I’m always looking for good ideas and if you have more than a few I’m always looking for more guest bloggers too. This blog was started to grow my community and help my family live more on less – I see there are lots of you out there doing the same so please share your story!

Meatless Monday

How many times have I meal planned the same 5-6 meals each week (or maybe eaten from 12 standards for a month)? It is tough to break out of habit and pattern especially when you are busy. One thing we find helps with this is to try shopping at some different places. Shopping somewhere different forces you to go look harder at the shelves, try new brands, and hopefully inspires you to try something new. This week's inspiration came from just that, a trip to another store.

My husband is part Chinese and as I have said in the past - the passionate cook in our family. Last week he made a monthly trip to a large Asian market in our area to pick up rice and few other family food staples. We always get more for less on our Asian items direct from an Asian food market rather than the standard American grocery store chain - And...every time he goes he tries something new. The produce and vegetables there are different. The noodles and pastries inspire new dishes that aren't your typical pasta dinner.

So this week he picked up black beans with a determination to make a black bean stir fry from scratch (not using a jar of black bean sauce). Onions, garlic, large dark brown mushrooms, tofu and a combination of a few recipes he found online sizzled in a wok and we had an excellent dinner.

But, I have to confess here that our meatless meal this week will be Deonne's red lentils from last week (I can't wait to try them) and we put a little chicken in this dish - but with plenty of black beans leftover this will be a meatless favorite in the future soon (yea, one of those 12 I suppose for a while). One note, my husband used the black beans whole and the fermented flavor was a little strong for our older child (nearly 4) who was eating with us - apparently if you mash and mix the beans before using you can cut down on this a bit... or if you are like me and don't have a clue how to make black bean sauce from scratch, just pick up a jar of black bean sauce for your first attempt.

If you want to try to make it yourself there here is the recipie he used: http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/asia/chinese/black-bean-sauce1.html

Easter Fun for Less than $10

Easter baskets. What kid doesn't want one filled with candy and goodies?

The candy and crappy-junk-toy companies are so persuasive, making me want to buy up a bunch of stuff to fill a basket for my four-year-old. I've really had to hold myself back every time I stepped into a grocery store in the past couple of weeks. The chocolates, the pastels and the egg-shaped everythings were calling my name.

But in the end, my own inner voice was even MORE persuasive. I made a few purchases, but also looked around my house for things that we already have and can include for free. Here is how we will delight one sweet boy on Easter morning. And it only cost me $9.24 (plus the cost of eggs, which I am not counting since we will eat them as food and not treats).

Sweet treats:

• From the Easter Bunny: One Small(ish) Lindt Milk Chocolate Bunny ($2.50 on sale) and a handful of Lindor Truffle eggs (also on sale for $2.50)
• From the grandparents: A small basket of assorted chocolates sent with love from Indiana (free)

Easter Egg Hunt:

• 1 1/2 dozen eggs colored and decorated ($2.99 for the egg decorating kit)
• Another dozen or so plastic eggs (free, found them in a drawer recently) and filled with random (free) stuff from around the house including: stickers (from the bottom of the junk drawer in the kitchen), a little ceramic cat from my jewelry box, a dollar bill from my coat pocket, a quarter (also found in jewelry box), some sequins (craft box), and a couple of the truffle eggs (see above).
  

The point of all this is that my kid will have plenty of candy (we actually go through it pretty slowly - this will last us into summer), and some other fun surprises, and will not even know what he is "missing" (i.e. cheap plastic doo-dads and such that will be broken, lost or forgotten in minutes).