As far of my New Year's Resolutions, I'm going to try more recipes. Specifically, 3 a month for a year. This is the first one that I've tried so far this month. Here is the link to the original recipe.
I didn't have any whole wheat flour on hand (thought I did, but apparently I used it all!) so I used all purpose flour. Also, I used pumpkin pie spice in the muffins since I have a ton of that for some reason.
The verdict is that they are really good! Jason even liked them despite the fact that they have pumpkin in them! I will be making them again for sure, though of course with a couple modifications.
I think next time I'm going to use the whole wheat flour, cut the oil in half and use applesauce, and I need to see if I can't cut down the sugar. Though I won't be making these again for a while since we have 36 of them! That is a ton of muffins for 2 people!!!
If you try this recipe out, let me know what you think!
Does anyone else remember Dirt Dessert? I know that Ma used to make it, and put it in a kids sand pail and serve it with a shovel. It was so cute. Then she put gummy worms in it too! Google it if you want to see a picture of it. It was so cute!
Tonight while tossing items in the cart with wild abandon carefully choosing healthy items all that were on the grocery list, I happened to walk by the deli area at Hy-Vee. I first spied dirt dessert! Boy that looked good, especially since Jason turned down Cold Stone ice cream. Then I spotted a Pumpkin Parfait. Now for those of you that know me, I'm a wanna-be domestic diva in the kitchen and don't like to buy pre-made. But I just couldn't pass up the dirt dessert. YES, I turned down pumpkin! (I don't know what I was thinking, especially since Pumpkin is good for more than just pie!) Of course as soon as the groceries were tossed on the floor and I dug through the bags frantically looking for my dessert carefully put away in their proper spots, I sat down to enjoy my dirt dessert.
I am saddened to say that it is only ok. It is definitley not Ma's Dirt Dessert. It tastes like it is missing something.
Ma, if you are reading this (and I know you are!) please, please, please send me your dirt dessert recipe. I think I might make it for Thanksgiving. I think the kids would enjoy it.
(Is anyone singing with me? Does anyone remember this song?)
If you don't, you are really missing out! The girlies used to watch Barney ALL THE TIME! Especially Susan. Then she would dance around the house and sing this song.
Anyway, Don (or Fancy Bacon which is his xboxlive gamertag) told me to blog about Peanut Butter. Of course, being the good woman I am, I listened, lol. (Shhhh..don't let Jason know that I can take directions. ;)) Oh and Fancy Bacon once made bacon!!!! I can only imagine how great that tasted...mmmm....bacon. Everyone loves some bacon. Because of him, I really want to attempt to make my own bacon (need a smoker first...) and also try more breads. He loves to bake. Speaking of which, there is an awesome book that he told me about that I really need to get. It's called "Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread". You can find it on Amazon. I'm thinking I might buy this book as a Christmas present for myself, from Cullen of course. You know, since cats are able to give Christmas presents and all.
Now I keep getting sidetracked (the Nelson side of me, right Ma?) Anyway, Don told me to blog about peanut butter. Crunchy or creamy and why.
The obvious choice is creamy. Nice, smooth, rich, creamy peanut butter. Nothing tastes better on a piece of homemade bread fresh from the oven, and the peanut butter starts to melt a bit. Mmm, mmm, mmm, good.
I know that some people like the crunch of the nuts in the crunchy peanut butter, but I think that's just wrong. I like nuts as much as the rest of the world (Jessi, get your mind out of the gutter!), but pieces of nuts don't belong in things. Peanut butter, banana bread, cookies, candy bars, etc. It's just wrong. (Yes, I can be a bit fickle about what I eat.)
Smooth peanut butter for the win!!!
Now what are your thoughts on the great peanut butter debate? Crunchy or smooth and why? If you blog about it, link me up to your post.
Processing more tomatoes to go in the freezer! I boil them until the skins crack and then cool them down in ice water, dice them up, and then put them in bags for the freezer. Did this quick today before work.
The grayish tint you see, is steam coming up from the boiling water.
Michele over at Mama Central had a post on rising food costs and wondered what we were doing to keep food costs down. I thought that would make a good blog entry, so here is what we are doing.
Making our own bread. A store bought loaf last time I looked was around $1.25 for a 1lb loaf. I can make mine for roughly $0.60 cents. I believe my loaf is about a pound and a half. We go through one or two loaves a week. Plus I feel that it's beneficial knowing exactly what is in the bread and not having all of the crap that is in processed food in there.
Buy items on sale and try to match with a coupon if possible. Stock up on what your family needs when it goes on sale for a rock bottom price. I have found that with the rising prices what used to be a rock bottom price doesn't happen. I've found that it's typically anywhere from 5 cents to 50 cents more than what it used to be say a year ago.
Know your prices. This is so very important. Sometimes it cheaper to buy in bulk, other times it's not. Lately I've found that especially with personal care items, it's not cheaper at all to buy in bulk at say Sam's Club. It's cheaper to go buy the item on sale at say Target and use a coupon. A price book might help you with this. I do that
Use coupons!!! I can't stress this enough. My husband and I don't each much processed, boxed, or frozen food anymore. We prefer to make it ourself, but I still find coupons for what we do buy! Personal Care items especially, I get get them for free or less than a dollar. Veggies and Fruit, especially using the Target coupons can be a steal as well! I get the Sunday paper and sometimes buy a second one, and I cut out all of the coupons I *MIGHT* use. Yes, there are a ton of expired ones I throw away, but if an item is on sale or clearance and I have a coupon I can get it for free or even get paid to take it. I also follow a few couponing blogs to find printable coupons and deals.
When using coupons you can use a STORE COUPON (such as Target) AND a MANUFACTURE COUPON such as one from the Sunday Inserts on the same item. This makes is easier to get cheap or free items.
For milk we buy Silk Soy Milk for drinking because after coupons I can get it for $0.89 cents or less for half a gallon. We do buy normal milk at Kwik Trip, our gas station, because it's cheaper than in the store.
Go shopping early in the morning if at all possible. Look for mark downs on meats especially. Target has $1, $2, and $3 off coupons on meat that needs to go, depending on the cost. We recently paid less than $2 for 2.5 pound Angus Beef Roast. We've gotten steaks the same way for about $1 for two steaks. Hy-Vee does the same thing, but they only have $1 off coupons on the meat. But depending on the cost, that can still be an awesome deal.
This year we have started our own garden. I haven't put that much money into it at all, mostly time, and so far we haven't bought lettuce for almost two months now. I have all sorts of green tomatoes on my tomato plants. I picked some peas last night and boy are they good! My little green onions are almost ready to be picked, and I'm not sure how big my carrots are. The only thing that isn't doing too well are peppers and broccoli. Oh and I've been enjoying my chives and cilantro as well. This has saved us money and next year we are planning on expanding our garden. I hope to be able to can lots next year.
Some of my price limits:
Hormel, Boneless Thick Cut All Natural Pork Chops they go down to about $1.88 a pound.
My husband and I love cereal especially in the summer mornings. I won't pay more than $1 a box. With all of the $2 and $3 off coupons, we have a TON of cereal, many different varieties, most of them we got for free or for a few cents. We will not cereal until next year.
We don't use ground beef often at all. First I can't find a good price on it and I can get the 97% fat free ground turkey for about $1-$1.50 a pound before coupons. (You can request coupons for them here: http://www.honeysucklewhite.com/contact.do just fill out the form to request "Money Saving Coupons" plus you can do that once every three months. :)) When it goes on sale for that low, I stock up. Last time I bought 30 pounds of it and 15 pounds of breakfast sausage and we still have some left! That was last fall I believe.
Beef Roasts anything less than $3 a pound is a good price here.
Pork Roasts we can get them typically for $1 a pound.
When ham and turkey go on sale for the holiday's I always pick up extras.
Chicken, we buy the boneless skinless chicken breasts (yes, I'm spoiled!) for about $1.99 a pound. I do buy the whole chickens when they go down to 59 cents a pound.
So far with the rising food costs, we haven't really changed how we eat. We are still managing on about $200 a month or a little more for the two of us, plus picking up extras. That includes all health and beauty things as well. We portion all of our food out to the recommended serving and eat that. We also use our leftovers for lunches and dinners. For instance, if I make homemade pizza or chicken enchiladas (we like the chicken ones better than the turkey or beef ones!) we have enough for 2-4 additional meals for the two of us. We use a TON of leftovers. We also LOVE having breakfast for supper. Breakfast foods are cheap, yummy, and filling. Nothing better than that. I am a firm believer that homemade food is the way to go, both healthier and cheaper.
Now leave a comment here or a link to your blog with how you are combating rising food costs.
Last night after Jason got done working at 1:30 a.m. we decided to do a quick run to Wal-Mart to see if they have Tava. I LOVE me some Tava. I didn't find Tava but I did get some good deals.
2-8 ct. Zantax 150 $3.98 each (Used 2-$5 off coupons) 3-Motts Applesauce single serve $1.50 each (Used $1 off of 2 coupon) 3-Jars of Plantsers Peanuts $2 each (Used 3-$3 off of Planters product when you buy 3 Kraft products) 9-Kool-Aid packs (to get the above peanuts) 20 cents each 1-padded envelope to mail something to Ma 97 cents 1-pkg lace trim in white, on clearance for 50 cents 1-Optimus Prime Transformer on clearance for $30
Grand total after coupons was $33.90 Less Transformer Cost & Tax $32.10
TOTAL SPENT ON EVERYTHING ELSE $1.80
Now that is some supersavings if i I do say so myself, even if I had to go into the dreaded Wal-Mart.
Day 11 
