The Parsimonious Princess

In the Backyard: My May 2013 Garden Report; or, Why I Haven't Posted Anything in a Couple Weeks

2013-05-17T13:37:00.001-06:00

The weather is warm, the trees have leaves on them again, and gardening season is in full swing! As a result, it's a lot harder to sit at the computer and work on a blog post. Don't get me wrong: I love blogging, but it just feels so good to get my fingernails dirty again. And even if I didn't want to go and work in the yard and I did want to sit here and type, my boys wouldn't let me. If they had their way, they'd both want to be outside all day. Ahhh...it's nice to have the warm weather back.

Anyway, I thought I'd show you what's been going on and what I've been doing in my backyard.

I came. I saw. I mulched.

Confession: I've never mulched my garden before. I had a lot of straw left over from the winter (it's what I used in the chicken tractor this past winter. I bought way more than I needed to last fall.), so I thought I'd give mulching a try this year. Now that I have, I want to kick myself for not doing it in seasons past. Mulch makes gardening easier, period. I don't have have to water the garden nearly as much as I usually do. There are less weeds, too. It's awesome. If you're a newbie to mulching like myself, check out this helpful introduction to the why's and how's of mulching here and here.

Like last year, my milk jug mini-greenhouses are sort of stressing me out. I know for a fact that this method of seed starting works, but the seeds took longer to get sprouting this spring, due to some unseasonably cold temperatures this spring (it snowed here on May 1st!). Almost all of the milk jugs have growth in them (except the cherry tomatoes -- again), but they're still not as big as I would've liked them to be by now. I've got a variety of tomatoes (slicing and paste), broccoli, and herbs (parsley, oregano, and thyme) starting in the milk jugs this year. Keeping my fingers crossed that they'll start growing faster as the days get warmer and warmer.

On Wednesday, I opened our last jar of homemade jam. Since I've become a jam snob and can't bring myself to buy the jam at the store, I've been pretty excited to see the raspberry and blackberry bushes start coming to life. My raspberries even have the beginnings of little flowers on them. They can't come soon enough!

My first planting of greens didn't result in..well...anything. I don't quite know what happened there. But I planted again (lettuce, Swiss chard, spinach, kale, mesclun) and it's coming up this time around. Gardening can be kind of weird like that.

Speaking of greens, I'm trying to grow all my kale in a pallet. This one isn't leaning up against my shed like my other one; this one is flat on the ground. I just laid some newspaper down, filled it with grow-box mix, and planted. So far, so good.

I'm also experimenting in that pallet with growing stuff from the ends of vegetables. I've seen ideas for re-growing with the ends of vegetables on Pinterest and figured I'd give it a go with some romaine lettuce. It's not growing super-fast, but it's not dead, either (as you can see in the picture above, there is new growth). I also want to try this with other vegetables, like celery and cabbage. I'll let you know how it works out.

This season I've planted a few vegetables I've never tried growing before. Take beets, as pictured above, for example. I didn't even know I liked beets until last Halloween, when my mom put raw beets on a vegetable tray for our Halloween party. They were surprisingly delicious. I've since juiced them with some carrots and oranges and found that they're awesome! When I make green juice with my boys (they love green juice), I've been adding beet greens to it. How awesome is a vegetable when you can eat the entire thing, leaves and roots? Anyway, I'm hoping that my beet crop pans out.

Another new plant to my garden is cabbage. I bought some seeds to start but forgot to plant them in a milk jug (duh), so I picked up these cute little starts at a nearby nursery for 50 cents each. I have dreams of making coleslaw and sauerkraut (haven't tried that one yet but really really want to) with homegrown cabbage. I'm also giving cauliflower and broccoli a try in my garden for the first time, too.

One thing in my garden I'm feeling particularly excited about is my garlic. It's going nuts! A few years ago, I tried growing garlic but I didn't go about it the right way. I just planted some garlic cloves I had in the pantry and hoped they'd work. They did sprout leaves but when I dug them up, the bulbs were about the size of a walnut; the cloves of garlic were teeny-tiny. This past fall, I ordered bulbs from my favorite seed company, planted in late October and covered them with straw. In late February, I saw little leaves poking out from the straw. Since then, they just keep getting taller and taller. I've heard that homegrown garlic is stronger and more flavorful than the garlic at the store. I keep wanting to dig around them a little and peek to see how big the bulbs are, but I am trying to resist; I'm doing my best to wait another month or two before I do.

No backyard report would be complete without some mention of the ladies. The three girls are doing fine and laying regularly. Even though I've been collecting eggs from them for almost a year, I'm still not over the happy novelty of getting eggs from the nesting box -- especially when there are three eggs at once in there. The girls seem glad to be able to peck in the green grass again, eat all the dandelion leaves my two-year-old can give them, and enjoy all the snails (grrr) I find in my flowerbeds. I just love having chickens in the backyard, even when they look like they're gossiping about me (as they seem to be doing in this picture).

My garden is looking pretty good and I feel really excited about it. It's a lot of fun.

That said, it's not perfect. And being all about honesty here, I thought I'd post pictures of some other projects and/or frustrations in the backyard.

This flower bed is making me crazy. I took this picture a couple weeks ago and it doesn't look much better since then. What do you do with grass in the flower bed? I'd spray it with weed killer (of the homemade and storebought varieties) but I don't want to kill all my perennials. I've tried digging, hoeing, even pulling the grass out by hand. What would you do?

Another flowerbed frustration: mint. I like mint, but there's no way I could use as much as I get in my yard. The people who lived here before planted mint in the flowerbed. As nice as the people seemed when we bought the house eight years ago, I can't help but curse them every spring when the mint starts coming back. It takes everything over -- the flowerbed, the plants, my grass, anything remotely near it. I can't tell you how often I'll be hunched over it in my yard, pulling at it, and wanting to shake my fist and yell toward the sky, "MIIIIIINT!!!!" (a la William Shatner in The Wrath of Khan). Please, reader, take this as a public service announcement and never plant mint anywhere except in a pot.

I've mentioned on here before that my lawn is a frequent source of frustration for me. Right now, an entire area is covered in dandelions. See how the grass in the top-left is clear? Yeah, that's kind of shows how my lawn looks, dandelion-free then -- BAM! -- dandelions. It's like a dandelion island. It's crazy. You know, every time I go to the store, I see in the produce section bunches of long, fat dandelion leaves and I can't help but think, "Who was the brilliant person who decided to go into dandelion farming?" Judging from my dandelion patch, I think I'd be a fantastic dandelion farmer.

At least the ladies in the backyard love them. I wonder if they'd like mint...

Even with the weeds, the rampant mint, the dandelions galore, and the slow-starting seeds, May is one of my favorite months. I mean, how can you not be happy when there are lilacs blooming? {The lilacs always remind me of my parents and grandparents' yards and of this song.}

Even our kitty can't help but smile a little now that it's May.

Happy gardening, everyone! What's growing where you live?

The Humble Ice Cube Tray -- Your Money-Saving Secret Weapon

2013-05-01T06:00:00.000-06:00

I haven't used an ice cube tray for ice in years. My fridge makes all the ice we need so I don't bother. That said, if you took a peek into my freezer (watch out for falling frozen chicken -- sometimes my freezer is sort of like a booby trap), you'd most likely see at least one ice cube tray in there.

Ice cube trays are a great money-saving tool. I use them all the time for saving leftovers. Here are a few ways I use an ice cube tray to save money:

- Homemade baby food. When my second baby was new to solid foods, I made his baby food (nothing fancy, just steam and puree. Seriously. It's that easy.) and froze it in ice cube trays. I would just store the cubes of baby food in a plastic freezer bag.When he was ready to eat, I would just warm up the frozen cubes of baby food -- I did this by either by a quick zap in the microwave, by mixing it into hot oatmeal (that cooled it to the perfect temperature) or I would thaw it in a glass bowl over a boiling water. (If you'd like to try making baby food but feel a little wary about doing it yourself, this book helped me feel a lot more confident about the process.)

- Tomato paste. I hardly ever use the whole can (even if it is one of those tiny ones) of tomato paste, so I put the leftovers in an ice cube tray. Each square in the ice cube tray equals about 1-2 tablespoons. (Word to the wise: tomato paste in a tube is awesome, then you don't even need to bother with the ice cube trays.)

- Herbs. Herbs can be preserved in a number of different ways, but when you're dealing with moisture-dense herbs like mint, chives, tarragon, or basil, freezing is the best method. One way I've preserved basil with an ice cube tray is to pulse about a half-cup of basil leaves with a 1/4 cup of olive oil in a food processor; once it forms a paste, I pour it into the ice cube trays, freeze it, and then store the cubes in a plastic freezer bag. When you're ready to use them, simply pop the cubes into whatever soup, sauce, or dish you're making. I've also seen this method of freezing cut-up herbs in olive oil, but I haven't tried it yet.

- Applesauce. I canned a bunch of applesauce this past fall. We don't really eat applesauce by the dish at our house, but I often use it in recipes as a sweetener (like in this waffle recipe - yum!). As a result, most of the time I'm only using a few tablespoons here and there. If I'm not careful, a jar of applesauce can sit in the fridge too long and get moldy. Totally depressing -- especially with all the work that went into picking the apples, cutting them up, cooking them, mashing them, and processing it in jars (whew!). To remedy this, I put a tablespoon of applesauce into each square of the ice cube tray and freeze it. Once they're frozen, I pop them out and put them in a plastic freezer bag. Whenever I need applesauce for a recipe, I just get the amount of tablespoon-sized cubes I need, thaw them in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds, and they're good to go.

-Pumpkin puree. I've been experimenting with paleo pancake recipes and some of them call for just a couple tablespoons of pumpkin puree. I just freeze the rest in the ice cube tray and store it in a plastic freezer bag (see a pattern yet?).

- Chicken stock. I freeze my homemade stock in glass jars (totally safe -- just leave room for the liquid to expand when it freezes). When I've made a batch of stock and poured it all into jars, there's often a little bit left in the bottom of the pot. Instead of only partially filling a jar (and having it take up more space in my freezer), I pour the rest into an ice cube tray. This is great for quick batches of soup or for de-glazing pans.

- Chicken treats. Sometime during October, after we'd gutted a bunch of pumpkins, I made chicken treats. I put the mixture (pumpkin guts and seeds, oatmeal, some molasses) into a couple trays and froze them. I fed these treats to the ladies all winter and they got so excited whenever I tossed them into the coop. I also love this idea of making mint ice cubes for keeping chickens cool in the summer.

- Leftover smoothies. Sometimes I can go kind of nuts when making a smoothie (especially since I got a Vitamix blender recently). I'll just get carried away while acting like a gourmet chef, throwing all kinds of fruit in there, pouring in various milks and/or juices, adding pinches of spices, nuts, coconut, or flaxmeal to the mix. I'm not really that good at making smoothies yet (recipes are welcome) and I'm definitely not good at eyeing portions. So if I've made a huge smoothie and I've drank all I can possibly can, I just freeze the rest in an ice cube tray. Next time I make a smoothie, I just pop a few of those cubes into the mix.

- Disposal freshener. From time to time, when my sink is getting smelly, I'll freeze some vinegar in an ice cube tray. Once it's frozen, I toss a few cubes into the disposal and turn it on. Works like a charm.

There are so many other ways to use the ice cube tray to curb food waste. Out of curiosity, I did a quick search for ice cube tray uses and was surprised by the uses I hadn't tried (like freezing egg whites in an ice cube tray -- who knew? This link has a lot of great ideas).

I'm sure there are some of you out there who are thinking, "Why go to all that trouble to just save a few tablespoons here and there. Does it really make a difference?" It makes me think of my other favorite money-saving kitchen tool: the rubber spatula. Sure, scraping the last bits of food from the jar with a rubber spatula or pouring the last bit of stock into a ice cube tray doesn't seem like a big deal, but it does make a difference. Doing these seemingly small actions cultivates a certain mindset, an attitude about how you use approach food and your resources. Frugality is about stretching things just a little further -- and the little things eventually add up.

{This post is linked up to Simple Lives Thursday, Little House Friday, and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.}

'I Got Worms' : My Vermicomposting Venture

2013-04-17T15:28:00.000-06:00

Add having a worm composting bin to the list of things I never imagined I would ever do. It's right up there with cloth diapering, raising chickens, and beekeeping. I can't even tell you how many times it makes me think of that part in Dumb and Dumber when Lloyd pitches his idea for a worm farm business. I remember how disgusting that sounded back when I watched it in high school. Who would have thought that someday I'd have a small sort of worm farm? Weird.

Anyway...

I'm not entirely sure where I first learned about vermicomposting (aka, worm composting; vermis is the latin word for worms). I've had a regular compost bin the entire time I've lived in my house (eight years this month!) and I'm always glad when I see worms in it. I've never, though, had a whole compost bin devoted to worms.

I started seeing pins on Pinterest about worm composting and I was intrigued. I read about people keeping bins in their small apartments or under the sink in their kitchens. I saw plans for tall worm compost bins that looked kind of like beehives. It seemed like a great idea to have worms eat food scraps and junk mail to help your garden, but it seemed a bit overwhelming, too.

That was until I saw this pin about making a vermicomposting bin out of storage containers. It seemed so easy and doable! I highly recommend checking out her post (especially the really cute video with author's four-year-old son explaining how it works) -- you can find the step-by-step instructions and a lot of good info. In this post, I'm going to share the process of how I made mine and some insights to how it's working for us. Keep in mind, I'm new to this whole process and am by no means a worm expert (yes, they do exist). That said, it's been pretty simple thus far.

Making the Worm Composting Bin

While we were waiting for the worms to come in the mail (I say "we" because my six-year-old was super excited about the project), I went to the store and picked up a couple storage containers.

I struggled bit trying to find the right storage containers. The instructions I followed called for two 8-10 gallon storage containers. I found plenty of those at good ol' Walmart but all of them were clear. Same thing at Target. The worm bin has to be opaque since worms are sensitive to light, so none of the ones they had worked. I finally was able to find some black 12-gallon containers (so a little bigger than necessary) at IKEA for about $5 each, along with one lid for $2.

So all together the worm bin cost $12 (plus tax). Much cheaper than the pre-made bins that go for around $100 (and that price doesn't include the worms) .

To make the bin, you need to drill some holes in one of the containers. Seeing as I'm pretty inept when it comes to power tools, I just took the container up to my parents' house (we were going there anyway and my worms had just arrived in the mail). My dad took the containers to his garage and took care of things. I wasn't helpful at all; I mostly just stood there and told him all the reasons why I wanted the bin in the first place so he wouldn't think I was nuts (you can find some great reasons for vermicomposting here).

First, he made some small holes on the bottom for drainage; Dad used a 1/8-inch drill bit.

Then he drilled some holes into the sides (higher up above the compost line, for ventilation) with one of his biggest drill bits. The plastic container was a bit flimsy so a few holes were a little cracked but no big deal.

The second bin doesn't need any holes at all. The purpose of the bottom bin is to catch any drainage from the first bin. In the last month that I've been keeping a worm bin, I've found the second bin to not be that necessary. Just keep the worms damp and not soaking wet and catching drainage isn't much of an issue. Not knowing this in advance, I still use the second bin since I have it.

So that the ventilation holes in the first bin don't get covered up, you need to have a something to elevate the main compost bin inside the second. (Does that make sense? Look at the picture below and you'll see what I mean). To do this, my dad simply cut some blocks of wood from his stash in the garage (did I mention my dad is a talented woodworker? I love that guy.) The blocks are just a few inches tall but they keep the ventilation holes right above the lip of the bottom bin.

That's it -- a homemade worm bin made in about 15-20 minutes, tops. Nothing fancy. That's fine. It's meant to hold worms and their castings (aka, worm poo); I'm keeping it in the garage. I'm fine with it being totally plain.

Filling the Worm Composter

First things first -- you need worms.

Worm composting requires a certain type of worm: red wiggler worms. You can't just go dig around in your yard or go to the fishing bait section and pick up a bunch of earthworms. From what I've read, these specific worms thrive on eating bacteria-laden and rotten food. Getting a pound or two of red wiggler worms is easy. There are lots of places online where you can order them -- even Amazon has listings for worms. I ordered mine from Wiser Worm Farm -- I got a pound of worms for $27, shipping included.

Once your bin has the holes drilled in it, it's ready to be filled.

First, add some shredded up newspaper. I've been using grocery ads that come in the mail, along with my son's book order forms he gets from school (that is, after I'm done spending too much money ordering from them...ahem).

Next, add some dirt. The worms need the grit to help them digest. As you can see, Max's cousins got in on all the wormy action and they took turns adding the dirt to the bin. (A worm bin is a great educational tool, I think.)

Next, we added some food scraps I'd been collecting for the last couple days (more on what and what not to feed worms later).

Now you can introduce your worms to their new home. Once I dumped them in, the kids started naming them. In our worm bin, there's a little red wiggler named Charles and another named Sammy. It didn't take long for the kids to.realize that it's hard to come up with 500 names.

We poured a little water over the newspaper-scraps-dirt mixture and worms. To top it all off, we added a wet piece of cardboard (to keep the light out from the ventilation holes). Put the lid on and the worms are ready to get to work!

Maintaining Your Worm Bin

It's been about a month since we added our worms to the bin. So far, it's been incredibly easy. It's also so cool to see how it's working. They really do eat your garbage!

There are a few guidelines on feeding worms -- there are foods they can and can't eat. The way I keep it straight is to think of them as a bunch of wiggly little vegans because worms can't eat dairy or meat. Unlike vegans, though, they also don't eat oils or citrus.

What do worms eat? They like fruits and vegetables, breads and grains, eggshells (we've got plenty of those), tea bags, coffee grounds (including the filter. We don't drink coffee at our house, but I've heard that worms love coffee grounds), and shredded newspaper.

I've read that it's best to feed the worms food that's already starting to rot a little. This is where my compost pail comes in. Until just recently, I used this pail to hold kitchen scraps before taking them to the compost pile in the yard; now I use it exclusively for worm food. The amazing thing about this pail is that it can hold the stinkiest, most rotten stuff in it and you can't smell anything when the lid is closed. It's awesome. So, I let the food for the worms sit in there for a day or two and then dump it into the worm bin.

Other things to keep in mind when taking care of worms:

Keep the bin's contents damp, but not soaking wet. I keep a spray bottle filled with water next to the bin and give it a few sprays when things are looking dry in the bin.
I also have an old hand rake next to the bin to stir things around when I add new food for them. This also helps with ventilation so things don't get too compacted.
Don't keep your worm bin somewhere that's too hot or cold. You don't want it to be somewhere where it gets colder than 35 degrees or hotter than around 80. Like I mentioned before, I keep mine in the garage (hence all the random stuff piled around the bin in the picture above).
Like with a regular compost pile, the worm composter doesn't stink if you're doing it right. If it stinks, that's when some troubleshooting is needed (maybe it's too wet, there's too much food, etc.). When I open my worm bin, it has a sort of pleasant, earthy smell. I say this not to brag but instead to point out how not-hard keeping a worm bin is.

Just as I'm fascinated by my compost pile outside, I find myself looking at the worm bin the same way. It's incredible to see a little sort of eco-system at work. I have yet to get the castings out and add them to my garden. Once I've done it and made a batch of worm poop tea for my garden, I'll let you know. (Yep. Add "making worm poop tea" to that list of things I never thought I'd do, too.)

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop, Your Green Resource, Simple Lives Thursday, and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.}

Adventures in Cloth Diapering: On-the-Go Cloth Diapering

2013-04-10T06:00:00.000-06:00

I'm going to level with you: diapering away from home is one area where disposables have cloth diapers beaten. There I said it. No beating around the bush here. Clothing diapering in public bathrooms can be tricky.

That said, on-the-go cloth diapering is not impossible. I mean, I've been doing it with my little guy for the last couple years (he turned TWO a little over a week ago. How is that even possible?! I swear I just had him a few months ago. Weird.). In this post, I'm going to tell you how I cloth diaper away from home -- the gear that I use, how I do it, and the occasions when I wave the white flag of surrender.

First, what to pack in your diaper bag...

The three essentials: diapers, wipes, and a wet bag. Let me break it down a bit:

The Wet Bag: The main difference between cloth diapering and using disposable diapers on the go is that you have to take the wet/soiled diapers with you (obviously). That's where the wet bag comes into play. You can use any kind of bag as your wet bag (I've used plastic bags from the store in a pinch), but I prefer using a bag specifically made for cloth diapering. The exterior of the bag is cloth but the inside is made of a waterproof material. These kinds of bags are great for two reasons: one, the good ones don't leak; two, they keep the stink contained. Before I had my baby I did some research and read a bunch of reviews on wet bags and finally decided on one made by Planet Wise. This wet bag is a champ! I can fit multiple diapers in it, it has never leaked (they actually have a special way of sealing the seams of the bag, avoiding the tiny holes often left behind when waterproof fabric is sewn), and it keeps my diaper bag from smelling like..well...diapers. I've put some seriously stinky diapers into this bag and you can't even smell them once the zipper is closed.

Wipes: I use cloth wipes at home but I don't when I'm away from home. I know there are others that use cloth wipes both at home and on the go, but I just don't bother. In the two years I've been cloth diapering my little guy, I think I've bought around five packages of wipes, at the most. They're convenient and easy to pack. When I'm dealing with a poopy diaper on those changing tables in a public restroom (more on that in a bit), I'm trying to get out of there as fast and discreetly as I can -- having wipes already damp and ready to go is nice. Once I've used the wipes on my baby, I usually put them into the trash or I'll stick them in the wet bag (I'll either throw them in the trash when I get home or they'll find their way into the wash and I throw them away as I'm getting the diapers into the dryer/onto the clothesline).

Diapers: Pocket diapers are the best for on-the-go cloth diapering because everything you need is right there -- no need to fumble in your bag for a Snappi or a diaper cover. Plus, they're quick and easy to get on your baby. The diaper I like to pack the most: Bummis Easy Fit (the yellow one in the picture above). I like the Easy Fit diapers away from home because the diaper comes in one piece, insert and all -- I can grab them in a hurry when I'm leaving and know that I didn't forget the inserts (yeah, it's happened before). They're also the most compact of the cloth diapers my baby wears.

Optional items: changing pad (it's nice to have a buffer between your baby and the changing surface) and flushable diaper liners (put one in the diaper your baby is wearing before you go. Makes poopy diapers much easier to deal with. More on that in a bit.).

Now that your bag is all packed, you're ready to go. So what do you if your baby needs changing while you're out?

Wet diapers are simple. When you're done changing your baby, stick the wet diaper in your wet bag. Done. Soiled diapers are a bit trickier.

I remember when my little guy was around 6-8 months old, he went through this phase when, no matter what, he pooped whenever we went somewhere. Even with that practice and after a couple years of cloth diapering, I still dread changing poopy diapers when I'm not at home. It's just so much easier at home with the diaper sprayer...

Honestly, I don't have a one-size-fits-all method. You have to sort of improvise, depending on what you're dealing with. (I'm just going to say it now...I'm going to be talking about poo for a while. In depth.) It all depends on the age of your baby and the consistency of the diaper's contents. (Hey, you were warned.)

If your baby is exclusively breastfed, poopy diapers are no problem; breastfed baby poop is water soluble and doesn't even need to be rinsed off. Just put the soiled diaper into the wet bag and call it good. Once you're home, you can dump the diaper straight into your diaper pail or washing machine.

If your baby is older and isn't exclusively breastfed, you'll need to take a few extra steps once the soiled diaper is off your baby. Once you've gotten the poopy diaper taken off and have a clean one on baby, try to get most of the dirty diaper's contents into the toilet. This is where flushable diaper liners are quite helpful. You just need to dump the liner into the toilet, flush and you're done. If you forgot to put a liner in your baby's diaper before you left home (this would be me lately), you can still try to dump the contents into a nearby toilet but it won't be always be as easy (unless baby's poop is solid and compact, which is always a relief in that situation).

If all else fails, you can put the diaper in the wet bag as is, poop and all, and deal with it at home. It's not the most pleasant of jobs, but I just tell myself that it takes less than five minutes to clean once I'm home. I can deal with five minutes of just about anything. Oh, the things we mothers do for our kids.

{It's worth mentioning that you should ALWAYS have your baby strapped when he or she is on a changing table, especially if you have to leave them for a moment to empty the diaper into the toilet. I remember having to change my little guy once in a public restroom and there was no belt on the fold-out table. I ended up just sticking everything into the wet bag. Just not worth the risk of baby rolling out and getting hurt.}

One last thing: I don't always cloth diaper my boy when I'm away from home. I don't even bother while on vacation (dealing with cloth diapers on 10-hour road trips or all day at Disneyland? Not for me.). I know it can be done. I've read about using cloth diaper services and I've heard of people washing their diapers while staying in a hotel. I just don't. I also skip the cloth diapers when we're camping. I don't quite know how to clean a poopy diaper when there's no plumbing. More power to you if you do cloth diapers on vacation or in the mountains, though. I think you've got to be flexible when it comes to cloth diapering -- do what works for you and your child; otherwise, you will get burned out and even want to give up completely.

In the last couple years of cloth diapering, I've noticed that the whole experience is full of little paradigm shifts. Using cloth diapers is definitely not mainstream; the idea takes a little getting used to. I still get funny/baffled looks from people when I tell them that my little boy wears cloth diapers. Changing cloth diapers away from home is just another one of those little shifts: it's not exactly the norm to pack a wet bag with you. It feels a little funny at first to leave a public restroom, knowing that you've got dirty diapers in your bag, and to then carry them around with you as you finish your errands (it will be our secret. No one will ever know!). But believe me, you get over it really quickly. It will become the norm for you. I've actually gotten to the point where it feels strange to throw a diaper away. I definitely didn't see that paradigm shift coming.

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop and Your Green Resource.}

Expecting Wonders: How to Test Your Seeds Before You Plant

2013-03-19T15:01:00.000-06:00

I'm not the most organized of people. I'm sure there are gardeners out there who have their packets of seeds in special containers, organized into groups, stored at the perfect temperature, and everything is carefully labeled.

Honestly, I'm just glad that my seed packets are located one in place for a change.

The problem is that with this jumble of packets of seeds, it's easy to lose track of what I've got. There are folded up packets at the bottom, the leftovers from a few seasons ago. There are seeds in a zipper bag with only "Swiss chard" written on it. I have tomato seeds I saved from the yellow heirloom ones my mom grew -- seeing as it's my first time ever trying to save tomato seeds (I always just bought tomato transplants until last year when I grew tomatoes from seed), I've been a little worried that I messed up and they won't work. And even the seeds that are still in their packets from last year, I still wonder if they've been store correctly and if they're still viable (some seeds, like spinach, are called 'short-lived seeds' and are considered to only be good for one season).

Frugal gardener that I am, I just can't bring myself to throw out the seeds in question. There's so much potential in those little seeds. At the same time, I don't want to plant them and waste time with seeds that aren't going to grow. What's a frugal, sometimes disorganized gardener to do?

Test them. Testing for seed germination is so easy and takes only a couple days (a week at the very most) to do.

To test your seeds, you only need four things: seeds, paper towels, plastic zipper bags, and water.

Moisten the paper towel -- the towel should be wet (not too dry but not dripping, either). Put ten seeds on that paper towel, being sure to space them out.

Why ten seeds? It gives you a better idea how viable the whole package is. According to a post I read about seed germination, if 9-10 seeds sprout, plant your seeds as the packet instructions direct. If only 8 sprout, you've still got a pretty good chance they'll work out. If you get only 6-7 seeds to sprout, you may want to sow more seeds than directed as a back-up. If you get five or less seeds sprouting, buy new seeds.

Fold the paper towel over the seeds, then fold again. Put the folded paper towel into a zipper bag; seal it only partially. If you are testing out multiple seed varieties, it's a good idea to label the bags.

Put the bags in a warm and sunny location (though not in direct sunlight) for a couple days. If the paper towel starts to dry out at any point, re-moisten it (I used a spray bottle).

After two days on my countertop, my peas looked like this:

Some were further along than others, but they were all starting to sprout. I'm planting my peas (including the ones I used in my test) this week!

If your seeds don't sprout in 2-3 days, don't give up! A few of my seeds (like the Swiss chard and spinach) took a little longer; the tomato seeds I'd saved from last year took about a week for one to even start sprouting (most of the others followed soon after).

Maybe this is the over-zealous gardener in me talking, but seed testing is fun, good for the soul even --especially at this time of year. It's exciting to see life return, even if it's wrapped in a paper towel, after the long winter months. It reminds me of that wonderful and oh-so-true quote from Henry David Thoreau: “Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.”

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop, Your Green Resource, Simple Lives Thursday, and Little House Friday.}

I Made Laundry Detergent! (Again): Easy Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

2013-03-13T06:00:00.000-06:00

Back in 2010, I made laundry detergent for the first time. I felt so self-sufficient and pioneery. I was amazed that it worked!

Then I stopped using it.

This was due to one factor: I was pregnant. I had made a big batch of detergent using Dr. Bronner's lavender soap and it worked fine. However, as my pregnancy progressed, the smell of lavender made my stomach turn like crazy (probably from grating all that lavender soap during my first trimester). Every time I pulled the container of laundry powder off the shelf and took off the lid, I felt like throwing up. But I couldn't put it in the trash and start with a different scent -- no way was I going to waste a bar of that soap!

So, yeah, it didn't get used for the rest of my pregnancy and once the baby was here, I still didn't use it. I was already getting the detergent at the store for the cloth diapers (I'd read mixed things about using homemade detergents on cloth diapers and didn't want to deal with that). Plus, I was so exhausted and overwhelmed that I just took a break from making detergent. I needed less on my list of things to do. Months later, even though I was taking on some of the things I done regularly before Baby #2 (as well as some new projects), I still just kept on buying the stuff at the store. My baby will be two this month and we just finished up the last of the store-bought detergent.

I've decided, though, to go back to the homemade detergent. I had my washing soda and borax ready to go, as well as a newly purchased bar of Fels-Naptha. But before I unwrapped the soap and pulled out my grater, I decided to look at some of the liquid detergent recipes on Pinterest. Most of them included grating and cooking and five-gallon buckets. Just as I was going to pass on the liquid stuff and stick to the good ol' powder recipe, I saw something different and waaaay easier.

It was a recipe from P. Allen Smith (I love that guy!). His version of liquid detergent couldn't be simpler to make. Seriously -- it takes less than five minutes from start to finish! It also costs much less than store-bought liquid detergent. You can find the video I watched here or you can follow these step-by-step instructions (plus, you'll also find some before-and-after pics like those ones on detergent commercials!):

To make this detergent, you'll need:

3 Tbsp. borax
3 Tbsp. washing soda (NOT baking soda. I used to only be able to find washing soda at Ace Hardware but now that homemade detergent has gotten a little more common, I can find it at Walmart in the laundry aisle.)
2 Tbsp. Dawn dish soap (the blue original kind)
water
an empty gallon-size milk jug

Pour the borax and washing soda into the empty milk jug.

Add the blue dish soap to the milk jug.

{Note: I'm all for using natural cleansers and eco-friendly soaps; it's something I've mentioned a bunch on this blog. I totally get that Dawn dish soap is made from ingredients that aren't exactly "natural" (though it is biodegradable and there are no phosphates in it. Plus, the original blue kind doesn't have triclosan in it, either). I don't use this soap on my dishes, where traces of it could actually be ingested, for that reason. That said, I don't feel too worried about washing my family's clothes with this detergent -- it's a couple tablespoons of Dawn that's been diluted in almost a gallon of water, which will be diluted even further in when you use it in the washing machine.}

Add four cups of lukewarm water to the milk jug.

Put the lid on the jug and shake, shake, shake!

Next, fill it up with water from the tap, leaving just a few inches at the top unfilled. Don't worry about all the bubbles coming out as you fill it.

Put the cap on and give the mixture a shake again. I also just turned it upside to help the detergent mixture mix with the water.

Ta-da! Liquid laundry detergent! You could store your detergent in a fancy glass canister or in something with a creative label on it like I've seen on Pinterest or you could go my route: keep it in the milk jug and write on it with a Sharpie.

For each load, use anywhere from 1/2 cup to a full cup of detergent (it all depends on load size. I've been using a cup for all my large loads of laundry). A cup of detergent seems like a lot but since it's so thin and watery, you need to use more. Since it's so quick and easy to make, it's not a big deal that you use so much at a time, I think.

You might be asking now, "So does it actually work?"

I'm pretty sure that is chocolate on my six-year-old's shirt (a souvenir from my in-laws from their trip to South America last year) -- at least I think it is. Anyway, here's what it looked like before. I didn't do any sort of stain removal treatment before throwing it into the wash.

It works! The shirt came out of the wash as clean as ever. I also checked on some other clothes that had mud on them (welcome, spring!) and food stains and the detergent worked on them, too. (Sidenote: I haven't used this detergent with cloth diapers yet. Washing cloth diapers is a whole other topic. I've been using a detergent specifically for cloth diapers. I'll let you know what is if it keeps on working as well as it has). All in all, I'm pretty pleased with this new laundry room development.

Hooray for homemade detergent -- especially when you can make it in just a few minutes!

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop.}

Observations & Lessons Learned from My First Winter with Chickens

2013-02-28T22:59:00.000-07:00

I live on the corner of my neighborhood -- as a result, everyone in said neighborhood can see what's happening in my yard. As you can imagine, I get a lot of questions about raising chickens. One question I got a lot in the late summer and fall was, "What are you going to do with them this winter?" I would just give them a non-committal, "Oh, I'm still doing some reading about that. We'll see."

Truth was, I was feeling pretty nervous about the whole wintertime chicken keeping thing. What was I going to do with them? I couldn't move the tractor around in the wintertime, so I'd have to figure out some sort of way to keep things clean and un-muddy. My usual method of dealing with chicken poop (move the tractor, rake it up, put it in compost pile, repeat) wouldn't work during the winter months. Then there was the question of using heat lamps and artificial lighting. I asked some of my chicken keeper friends on Facebook what they thought I should do in that regard: half said yes to lamps, half said no. Even my chicken book I'd consulted for months and months didn't really have much information about keeping chickens in the winter.

So, with a little extra research, some prowling around in forums, with the help of a couple of great chicken blogs (I particularly like this one), I trusted my gut and hoped I wouldn't kill my three chickens this winter. Tomorrow is the first day of March and I'm happy to report that all three of my ladies are alive, well, and laying.

Here are some of the observations I made and some lessons I learned through these past cold and snowy months:

1. Chickens are tough.
So after I put the whole "heat lamp or no?" question out to my Facebook friends and got mixed answers, I went searching around online. Again, mixed. I asked a couple people at the local feed store. They said to go with the lamp. I even had a kid from my church ask (when I told him that my girls weren't laying as much at the time), "You got a light on your chickens?" And to be honest, I felt bad about the ladies being out in the cold.

But I couldn't shake the arguments from the "no heat lamp" camp and the testimonials from chicken keepers in the Northern states like Michigan and Minnesota. I also couldn't help but think, "How did the pioneers take care of chickens before electricity?" It finally came down to what I read in an issue of Backyard Poultry magazine: I learned that chickens can survive in temperatures as low as -20°F, as long as they are sheltered from drafts. Chickens have over 8000 feathers which they fluff out and trap air with; their body heat warms the air and they stay surprisingly warm. Plus, it's better to have them get used to cold temperatures instead of relying on a heat lamp -- if chickens that are used to having heat lamp lose that source of heat (like, say, in a power outage or if a bulb burns out), you could lose your whole flock.

So the girls didn't get a heat lamp this winter (though I still put in there -- hence the yellow cord in the picture -- just in case I changed my mind). Even in January, when we went through a stretch when the high daytime temperatures were in the low teens and the nights got as low as -10°F, they were fine. On those super-cold days I took extra care of them, which I will explain later in this post (see #5).

2. I miss the "chipple".
This past June, I learned about the chicken nipple (or as my husband and I call it, the chipple) watering system. Instead of having water dishes that get poop, food, and bedding kicked into them, you can hang the water containers and the chickens drink from the red nipple on the bottom of the container. The water stays totally clean and you don't have to change it numerous times a day. It's the best way to water chickens, in my humble opinon.

The downside to the chipple: it doesn't work in the wintertime (at least not in my experience). The metal part that the birds tap with their beak to release the water gets frozen and stuck in place. So even with my attempts to keep changing it and filling it with water, the first thing to freeze was that metal part. Knowing that I would eventually have to give up the chipple for the season, I ordered a heated water bowl (there are lots of great DIY ways to make heated waterers but with the limited space in the chicken tractor, I just went with the bowl).

The bowl works really well at keeping the water from freezing (it didn't even freeze when the temperatures hovered below, at, or barely above 0°F), but I forgot how messy chickens can be with their water. That bowl gets full of straw, poop, and food in no time. Sigh. I'm partly excited for spring just so I can go back to using the chipple and not have to deal with poopy water several times a day.

3. Chickens do lay eggs in the winter, even without artificial light.
I had lots of people tell me that they wouldn't lay in the winter if I didn't have a lamp on them. False. Granted, they definitely slowed down in their egg production, but they still laid eggs. I figured that chickens slow down in the winter for a reason, so I decided to let nature take its course. One of my neighbors told me that his hens have never had artificial light in their coop and the same hens have been laying for nearly four years!

My Rhode Island Red, Princess Leia, has been reliably laying for the entire winter season. My Black Sex-link, Foxy Cleopatra, has been off and on, though she pretty much stopped in January. My Ameraucana, Lenore, actually started laying her first eggs (I was so excited to finally see those blue-green eggs!) when the temperatures were coldest in early January.

At one point during the winter, I was only collecting getting one egg a day. This wasn't enough to keep up with my family's egg consumption, so I ended up buying some from one of my neighbors (her eggs are not only pastured but fertile, too). Most of time, though, this season I've collected 1-2 eggs a day; it'll be nice when I'm collecting three daily.

(Sidenote: If you do use lamps in your chicken coop, that's great -- I know lots of people who do and they did get more eggs from their chickens than I did this winter. I'm definitely not trying to stir any sort of debate up, I promise.)

4. Chickens can get bored and turn into jerks.

Since my hens have always been on the grass in the chicken tractor, they've never seemed bored. In the warmer months, they loved pecking and scratching around in the grass, digging little holes, taking dust baths, and eating all the worms and grasshoppers my boys could find. Then winter came and kept their chicken tractor in one spot. Some days it got so cold that they'd stay in the henhouse for a good part of the day. There was not a whole lot for them to do.

I had read about chicken boredom and tried to help them out by giving them treats (dried mealworms are their favorite). I'd sometimes toss a head of cabbage or lettuce into the tractor for them to peck at and eat. They liked pecking around for scratch, but I could tell that they were still feeling a little restless.

Then one morning as I was changing their water yet again, I noticed that my Black Sex-link was missing a lot of feathers on her neck. My first thought was, "Oh great, she's sick". So I took a picture with my phone (the picture you see in this paragraph) and sent it to my brother-in-law, my go-to chicken expert. His answer? Since it was only in that spot, it looked like she was at the receiving end of some pecking. I did some reading and found out that chickens are more prone to do this kind of thing in the winter. The feathers grew back on Foxy, but Lenore soon followed as the next victim with a section next to her tail plucked away. I'm suspecting it's Princess Leia who's the bully, especially since she pecked at me the other day as I was feeding them some kitchen scraps (and she's usually quite docile.). I guess even chickens start to feel crabby when winter has worn on too long.

(I actually just found this blog post about keeping chickens occupied -- it's a little late for my ladies now, seeing as winter is almost over and they'll be back to the grass and bugs they love, but I'll still implement a few ideas.)

5. My chickens are spoiled.

Behold -- hot breakfast for hens.

On those below-zero mornings especially, I just felt bad for the girls in the backyard. They were fine but I still felt for them. So whenever it got really cold, I'd whip up nice steaming bowl of oatmeal for the ladies. I sprinkle in some scratch, a few tablespoons chicken treat mix, and some raisins. I always tried to do this on the sly in the mornings, a bit worried about the looks or teasing I might get from my husband (he finds it funny how I spoil our chickens). The ladies loved getting hot breakfast -- at least, they seemed liked they loved it, the way they would gobble it up.

That was just one thing I did for the ladies when it got super-cold this winter. I also paid attention to their combs, coating the combs of two of them with Vaseline so as to avoid frostbite (our Ameraucana has a short pea-comb, so the risk of frostbite is far less). I swear, my Black Sex-link liked getting picked up and having her comb rubbed with Vaseline; I could feel her body relax under my arm and she would sort of close her eyes as I took care of her comb.

So, yes, my chickens are bit spoiled (though still not as spoiled as some others I've read about, where people decorate their coops, knit them sweaters, and put diapers on them so they can roam the house). My husband finds it amusing the way I research and read about keeping chickens, the way I get all concerned over them. My rationale: healthy and happy chickens produce the best eggs -- and I'm pleased to report that my hens, considering the freezing temperatures and the many feet of snow we've gotten this winter, seem as healthy and happy as can be expected.

{This post is linked up to Simple Lives Thursday, Little House Friday and Your Green Resource}

A Gentle Reminder: Are You Saving Your Milk Jugs Yet?

2013-02-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

We got about three or four inches of snow at our house yesterday, but I'm telling you, I feel spring in the air. I can't explain why or how I've come to this conclusion, but I just can tell that it's around the corner. Punxsutawney Phil has my back on this.

This is the time of year when I start planning my garden and ordering seeds. The idea of ordering seeds makes me a little giddy (this is my favorite place online to order seeds) -- I love flipping through catalogs, checking out all the different varieties, consulting my Western Garden Book to make sure what I like grows in my area, and planning out where I'll put them in my garden. (insert sigh of contentment here)

And as if that wasn't exciting enough, I'm gearing up to start my tender crop seeds again with the help of empty milk jugs. That's where the gentle reminder mentioned in the title comes into play: are you saving your milk jugs? If not, you still have time! Once you finish a gallon of milk (or, as it goes at my house, a gallon of vinegar), rinse it out, remove the cap (more on that in a bit), and set it aside (though you could start some of your seeds right now, depending on what you're growing and where you live).

Are you reading all of this and thinking, "What on earth is she talking about?" Basically, with a tiny bit of alteration (emphasis on tiny), you can turn an empty gallon-sized jug into a mini-greenhouse. This allows you to start your seeds outdoors with minimal effort. No need for special lighting or seed-starting kits or finding the space in your house for a seed-starting operation. Besides actually planting a seed directly into your garden, this is as easy as seed starting gets!

Want to learn more? You can read the a couple posts I wrote last year about my experience with mini-greenhouses: "In the Backyard: My Milk Jug Mini-Greenhouses" and "How Empty Milk Jugs Changed My Garden".

I must give credit where it is due -- I first learned about this seed starting technique (called winter-sowing) from the blog, A Garden for the House. It's a lovely blog, full of great ideas. (Plus he seems like such a nice guy. I want to tour his mid-1800s house, chat with him about gardening, and enjoy his charlotte almondine.) You can find all of his winter-sowing posts here. I highly recommend it.

One last thing about saving milk jugs: if you have kids, save the milk caps!

Not too long ago, I saw this idea on Pinterest, about creating a simple activity with an empty wipes container and milk caps. I'll admit, I was a little skeptical at first since some of the other baby activities I've seen on Pinterest and tried with my little guy have entertained him for like 5-10 minutes, tops (it's bad news when even a baby thinks it's boring). Seeing as I had a bunch of milk caps and an empty wipe container, I thought I'd give it a try. Guess what? He loved it. I was amazed how long it kept him entertained. Toys made out of stuff I'd normally throw away or recycle? Love it! (For some more great ideas of ways to use milk caps with kids, look here. Who knew?)

So start saving those milk jugs (and caps!). Start your own seeds easily. I can't think of a nicer way to usher in spring. It'll be here before you know it. Trust me on this.

{This post is linked up to Your Green Resource, Simple Lives Thursday, Little House Friday, and Homestead Barn Hop.}

Mama K's Peanut Butter Squares

2013-02-18T14:04:00.003-07:00

The old saying goes that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. With this in mind, I decided to whip up a batch of one of my husband's all-time favorite treats for Valentine's Day: peanut butter squaress. These aren't just any kind of peanut butter squares -- these are made from his mom's recipe. He loves them. Early in our marriage, he called his mom, wrote down the recipe, and stuck it my recipe file. I don't make these bars very often, but when I do, Kevin is a very happy man.

From what I've been told, these peanut butter squares are like the ones that were served in school cafeterias back in the 1980s and 90s. Seeing as I could probably count how many times my mom paid for school lunch on one hand (as much as my brothers and I begged, Mom always sent us kids to school with homemade lunches), I don't really have that point of reference to draw from. I will say, though, that these peanut butter squares are absolutely delicious and dangerous beyond all belief; you can't stop with one.

I thought about tinkering with the recipe for this post since I'm still following a sort of paleo-ish diet. Maybe substitute all that sugar with honey, maple syrup or sucanat; perhaps toy with the flour and use almond flour instead (though gluten-free baking still intimidates me). Maybe I could make these treats little less dangerous to the waistline.

But I cast that idea aside quickly because these bars were for my valentine, a guy who doesn't totally buy into, as he would call it, all the natural/health food mumbo-jumbo (but he is totally patient and cool with me buying into it). I say, a treat now and then won't kill anyone (eating the entire pan, which you will want to do...well, that's another story). I even diverged a bit from the paleo stuff and indulged this past Valentine's Day.

Now, I recognize that Valentine's Day is over, but that shouldn't stop you. Why not make a batch today for Presidents' Day and raise a peanut butter square (and a glass of milk) in honor of George Washington's birthday?

So, without further ado, I bring you the peanut butters squares from my husband's childhood, in all their peanut-buttery, chocolaty, and sugary goodness.

Mama K's Peanut Butter Squares

3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 3/4 cups peanut butter
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

Topping:
peanut butter (around a cup)
chocolate frosting (my go-to chocolate frosting recipe can be found here).

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

First, beat the butter and sugar together until relatively light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, salt, baking soda, and vanilla. Mix.

Add the peanut butter. I used chunky peanut butter in this batch, though either creamy or chunky is fine.

Add the oats and flour. Mix.

Personally, I like the batter even better than the baked squares. As you can see, my almost-two-year-old was of the same mindset. Tread with caution here, folks.

Turn the batter out onto a greased cookie sheet.

Press it and shape it with a rubber spatula or you can use your hands like I do. See all those finger indentations? This is where I should mention that I don't fill the whole cookie sheet; it only goes about half-way. No big deal. Just trim of the ragged edge when you cut these up and no one will know.

Bake for around 10-12 minutes. The edges should be browned and the top won't be wet or sticky.

Spread peanut butter all over the top of the squares. Word to the wise: you might want to use creamy peanut butter for this step (though, as you can see, I didn't) because it makes spreading the chocolate frosting (next) on top of the peanut butter easier.

Then spread the chocolate frosting. I used my favorite chocolate frosting recipe for this step -- I did halve the recipe and I used vanilla in it instead of almond extract (the almond and peanut flavors just clash too much. The almond extract in that recipe is awesome with other desserts, though).

Love in square form, right there.

We ate some of these on Valentine's Day and then I sent most (we had to keep some) of the leftovers to work with my husband, so he could share with his carpool and anyone near his office. Really, it was better that way.

(This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop.)

"They're More Like Guidelines": On Best-By and Sell-By Dates

2013-02-13T17:15:00.001-07:00

Did you know that it's estimated that 40% of America's food is thrown away? I'm not entirely sure how this statistic was figured, but I don't doubt that we Americans waste a lot of food. (When I was a dishwasher at various restaurants during my early teenage years, I was shocked at how much food was left on people's plates. How could someone leave half of a New York strip on their plate?!) If the statistic is correct, it definitely deserves attention and certainly some introspection on our parts, considering how many hungry people there are in other areas of the world.

Some of the articles I read on this statistic, though, painted Americans as greedy and gluttonous, as if to shame us all into wasting less. I don't think this is always the case. I think there's a sort of spectrum of food wasting types. There are some people who truly are flippant and/or lazy. Some people waste food because they're picky (there are a lot of people who won't touch leftovers. Apparently food that is good enough for dinner is unpalatable the next day...).

Honestly, though, I think the biggest factors that leads people to waste food is misinformation. I admit I was a misinformed food waster. This leads to my food wasting confessional: I used to throw out food solely based on the dates printed on the labels.

I never questioned the expiration (or sell by or best by) dates printed on food. I figured the producers of the food knew more than I did and I trusted those dates without question. I've wasted a lot of milk and yogurt, among other things, because of those dates on the labels.

One day I was cleaning out and organizing a part of my house (we call it the Harry Potter closet since it's under our stairs) where the bulk of our food storage is located. On the shelf were several canisters of oatmeal that I'd purchased at a ridiculously low price. As I was moving them around, I noticed the dates on the bottom of them: they should have been used over a year ago and were well past the date printed. I didn't want to throw them out but they were old. So, on a whim, I called the customer service number printed on the label. The nice lady from customer service told me that date was more of a guideline and that the oats I had were perfectly fine. I asked, "What if they don't get used for another six months or so?" Her answer: "Still fine." I took her word for it and we used them without a problem. I think we may have polished off the last of the "expired"-in-2009 oats early last year.

I became more open-minded about eating shelf-stable stuff past the sell-by dates, but until quite recently I was still wary of eating anything perishable (read: dairy) past the printed dates on the labels. Well, that was until I fed my little guy some yogurt that had lapsed the printed date by a week. I remember I finished feeding him the peach yogurt (which he happily gobbled up) and when I went to throw it out, I noticed the date. What had I done?!? I sniffed was left in the container. It smelled totally fine. So, of course, I did a quick internet search and found out, to my surprise, that yogurt is fine 7-10 days after the sell by date, just as long as your fridge is at the proper temperature. Oh, the yogurt I'd wasted over the years!

Sell-by, use-by, and best-by dates aren't expiration dates -- I always kind of thought they were all the same thing. The only foods that carry expiration dates (as required by law) is infant formula and baby food. Sell-by dates are guidelines for food that is perishable; the dates give stores a good idea of how long they should keep items on shelves and in display cases. You should buy products at the store before their sell-by date, but you can store them for a little while past that date. Use-by or best-by dates are usually on shelf-stable foods and all those dates indicate is when the foods will be at their best taste and quality -- food safety isn't the concern with those dates (except if a can is bulging -- a sign of botulism -- or shows signs of spoilage). Food may not taste as good as if you'd adhered to the best-by date (the color and texture may change, too), but you'll be fine eating it.

A recent example: as I mentioned in my last post, I've been going sort of paleo for the last few weeks. I didn't realize how much of our milk is consumed by me. This has led to the gallons of milk in the fridge lasting longer. So when this whole gallon of organic milk (which is kinda spendy) passed the sell-by date, I had no qualms pouring it over my kindergartener's cereal this morning or filling my toddler's cup with it. Milk is fine, as I've since learned, for about a week after the sell-by date. Just be sure to give it a sniff now and then.

The takeaway from this post: the sell-by dates and best-by dates on food are more like guidelines than actual rules. A more in-depth overview of what the sell by, best by, and expiration dates really mean can be found here at the site StillTasty.com. You can also find a helpful tool there -- simply enter the food in question in their search engine and it will bring up the shelf-life for you. Their database covers thousands of different foods.

As I type this post, I can't help but think of a sad/super gross episode from show Hoarders where a woman hoarded food. Most of what the woman had in her home was spoiled beyond belief. I remember the woman saying something about containers of sour cream that were months past their sell-by dates: "What's going to happen? It's going to get more sour?" I bring this woman up because common sense plays a huge part in the topic of wasting food. You can ignore the dates if you want, but don't ignore what your eyes see or what your nose smells. Your senses are one of the best ways to assure freshness or quality, even better than a printed date on a label.

For a quick chart with shelf-life dates of general food groups, check out this link For a little more reading on this topic of labels and "expired" food (it's actually pretty interesting, I think) you can read here about how sell-by guidelines are decided and about tests run on a 40-year-old can of sweet corn (spoiler: it was still safe!).

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop, Simple Lives Thursday, Your Green Resource, Little House Friday, and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.}

Paleo(ish) Almond-Buckwheat Pancakes

2013-02-05T13:19:00.000-07:00

One could say that I have an affinity for pancakes, seeing as this is my fourth pancake recipe on this blog. What can I say? I think starting the day with a stack of pancakes is pretty awesome thing to do.

You can imagine, then, my reaction when my doctor advised me to give up grains and dairy for a few weeks: What was I going to eat for breakfast?! For a few days, I had eggs with salsa. Even with the salsa I canned a few months ago (seriously delicious stuff - best canned salsa recipe ever), I was feeling pretty burned out on just having eggs every morning. I needed some other breakfast options.

Lucky for me, my dad has been following a paleolithic diet (everyone in the family calls it the "caveman diet") for years now. He swears by it -- he doesn't get migraines as often as he used to, his skin looks great, he doesn't get acid reflux anymore, and his doctor told him at his physical that he's as healthy as a 30-year-old. Take it for what it's worth. Anyway, my dad has avoided grains and dairy since 2010, so I called home for some help and my mom gave me this recipe for almond-buckwheat pancakes.

Now, I did a little reading and it's seems like the jury's still out about whether or not buckwheat is paleo-friendly. Since it's not a grain at all and is actually a fruit, some people say it's fine; others say that it's a no-go. If you're hardcore paleo and are wary about buckwheat, I figure you could just use all almond flour and skip the buckwheat. I kept the buckwhat flour in. Even if you're not on the paleo bandwagon, this is a great pancake for those who can't eat gluten. And even if you're not sensitive to gluten or on a paleo diet, you could still make these because they're healthy and pretty tasty.

Almond-Buckwheat Pancakes

3/4 cup almond flour
1/3 cup buckwheat flour
3/4 cup egg whites
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup almond milk
1/4 cup honey
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

Mix the dry ingredients (except the cream of tartar) in a medium-large bowl.

Combine the almond milk and honey in a small bowl and then add to the dry mixture.

Next, get your egg whites ready. It took about seven eggs to get the 3/4 cup of whites (I saved the yolks for another recipe, of course). That's a lot of eggs, I know. You may want to use the egg whites that come in a carton.

Whip up the whites until soft peaks form. While the whites are being whipped, add the cream of tartar. I used my KitchenAid with the whisk attachment to do this step, but you also do it by hand.

Fold the whites gently into the batter.

Pour the batter onto a hot griddle or skillet. Once air bubbles form, flip the pancakes.

Top the pancakes with butter (yep, butter is paleo -- I checked) and real maple syrup. Whether or not you devour them like a caveman (you know, lots of grunting and no utensils) is up to you.

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop, Your Green Resource, Simple Lives Thursday, Little House Friday, and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.}

Another 100 Painless Ways to Live Frugally

2013-01-31T13:35:00.000-07:00

One of my most popular posts here on The Parsimonious Princess is "100 Painless Ways to Live Frugally". Being a girl who doesn't mind a challenge, I wanted to see if I could find a hundred more ways. Well, here it is: 100 more (painless) ways to save money and live frugally. Personally, I think this list is even better than the last one.

1. Subscribe to The Parsimonious Princess via email or become a follower. That way, you won't miss a single post!

2. There is a difference between being frugal and being cheap. Knowing that difference can save you money. Read my post here to see what I mean.

3. Make your own hand soap - liquid or foaming. It's seriously easy and costs hardly anything to make.

4. Have you gone paperless with your bills yet? If not, there are companies that will give you a discount for getting your bills via email instead of in the mail. Just ask. It worked for me with my insurance company just last month.

5. Eat eggs. They're one of the best things nutritionally for you. Eggs happen to be a complete protein, containing all the essential amino acids your body needs daily. Eating eggs is great way to go meatless at least once a week. They're not just for breakfast -- some nights I'll make a frittata, a big omelette, or poached/scrambled eggs on toast. Simple, inexpensive, and delicious.

6. 1/2 cup washing soda + 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide = homemade OxiClean. Check out this link for the details.

7. Have you tried the green-onion-in-water trick? If you save the white ends of green onions, put them in water, and stick the jar somewhere sunny (mine are on my kitchen windowsill), the green onions will grow back. Forever. (Well, maybe that's a little hyperbolic, but seriously, they'll keep growing back). Be sure to change the water regularly and rinse the white ends occasionally so they don't get all slimy.

8. Reusable canning lids pay for themselves! You can use them over and over -- Tattler lids have a lifetime warranty (the rubber rings need will need replacing eventually, but the lids are guaranteed to last). I love my Tattler lids -- though, I have to admit, I do miss hearing that popping sound when they seal...

9. Packing a lunch for yourself or your kids is a great way to save money. One way to make it even more money-saving? Skip the disposable aspect of packing a lunch. Use lunch boxes or lunch bags instead of the brown paper sack; use a reusable water bottle or a thermos instead of juice boxes, bottled water, or milk cartons; use reusable bags or reusable containers (I love these ones -- my husband uses them all the time when he takes lunch to work) instead of plastic baggies.

10. As I've mentioned a couple times on this blog, I love Tamar Adler's An Everlasting Meal. One suggestion she makes in the book is to take care of all your produce when you get home from buying it. Wash it, dry it, cook it, put it into containers. By doing this, you'll have everything ready to go when you need it. It will be visible and convenient in your fridge. This translates to less waste. I know that when I've taken the time to wash all the spinach and lettuce, for example, right away, I use it more because it's convenient. When I wash and store my herbs properly, they last so much longer. (Ms. Adler's book goes into depth on how to cook, store, and prep vegetables the best way.) Admittedly, I'm not perfect at this. Sometimes, after spending a bunch of time shopping with two kids, I barely have the energy to just put the groceries away let alone prep everything, but it's worth doing and I know you will waste less produce (read: less money) with this simple step alone. Watch this video of Ms. Adler's process. It's lovely.

How to Stride Ahead - Part Two from CJ Richter on Vimeo.

11. While we're on the subject of produce, if you want to buy organic produce but find it too costly (or if you are buying organically grown produce and are feeling the pinch in your wallet), a good trick is to pay attention to the Dirty Dozen list. The Dirty Dozen list tells which crops are most heavily sprayed and have the most pesticides. If a fruit or vegetable is on the Dirty Dozen list, then it's a good idea to go organic; if it's not on the Dirty Dozen list, then buy the cheaper conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables.

12. A low-flow showerhead can save the average household $55 per person annually. Low-flow showerheads have gotten a bad rap and for good reason. Most of them are terrible. That said, my husband and I have had a low-flow showerhead in our bathroom for the last couple years and we love it. It's made by High Sierra Showerheads and it's great! For more info about it, you can read my post here.

13. Keep a low-maintenance hair style and/or hair color. Less visits to the salon for trims and touch-ups will save money.

14. Are you or your spouse in the military or a veteran? There are lots of discounts at stores, restaurants, hotels, and more out there for members of military, both active duty and retired. My dad is a retired army veteran and he gets discounts at lots of places by showing his military ID. Sometimes, you just have to ask. For a list of 149 military discounts, check out this link. There are also lots of discounts for teachers -- here's a link to 66 teacher discounts.

15. Don't buy extended warranties. They're a waste of money. I'd explain why, but Dave Ramsey does a better job here.

16. Chill out when you're behind the wheel; aggressive driving costs more money. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, aggressive driving will use 33% more gas on the highway and 5% more on roads around town. I read somewhere that you should pretend that there's an egg under the gas pedal -- don't ever push the gas pedal down so fast that you would crack the imaginary egg.

17. Learn to make homemade versions of pantry staples. My favorite guide for doing that: The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying and Start Making by Alana Chernila. It's easier than you think, I promise.

18. If you're having a party or some other kind of get-together, make it a potluck. We do this every year for our Halloween party and it's always a hit because our guests come up with fun Halloween-themed dishes. We never know what people will bring and it adds to the fun. It's a pretty great way to feed a crowd and save money.

19. Use houseplants to purify the air in your home instead of an expensive air purifier. One book that I recommend is How to Grow Fresh Air: 50 Houseplants that Purify Your Home or Office by B.C. Wolverton. Mr. Wolverton is a NASA scientist who actually researched what plants would best create a breathable environment on the moon; this book details his findings in an easy-to-read yet informative guide. I'm willing to bet you'll be as surprised as I was when I found out how effective houseplants truly are at cleaning the air in the home.

20. Freshen the air in your home naturally, too. Simmering different things (cinnamon sticks, cloves, orange peels, essential oils, to name just a few) in water can go a long way in making your home smell nice and inviting. Boiling orange peels is a cheap and easy way I freshen the air in my home.

21. If you have chickens (funny how I sort of joked about having them in my last 100 list...), save your kitchen scraps for them. This is definitely not a replacement for a balanced chicken feed, but kitchen scraps are a great supplement to their diet. My ladies eat the rest of the apples my kids don't finish, the outer layers of cabbage, wilted lettuce, leftover rice, oatmeal that doesn't get finished at breakfast, the pumpkin guts from our jack-o-lanterns, tops of tomatoes, the peels from batches of applesauce, and more. Not only do the nutrients in the scraps help my hens stay healthy and produce nutritious eggs for my family, but the ladies also make the scraps into great compost in the meantime. Plus, the treats make them happy and happy hens make the best eggs! For a good list of what scraps to feed (and what not to feed) to chickens, check out this helpful link.

22. Make your own laundry detergent. Thanks to Pinterest, it seems like making your own detergent has become more and more popular. For most recipes you just need a bar of soap, some washing soda, and borax. There are a bunch of recipes for homemade powder and liquid laundry detergent online; here's the powder one that I've used (along with some of my thoughts on the whole process) and you can find my super-easy recipe (it takes five minutes to make) for liquid detergent here.

23. Organize a baby-sitting co-op to save money. A group of women at my church have this system where they get a sort of credit for each hour they watch someone else's kid in their group. Each credit you get, you get an hour of baby-sitting by someone else in the group (they keep track with sticks -- each stick counts for an hour of free babysitting). So, say you watch your neighbor's two kids for an hour, you would get two hour-long baby-sitting credits to use with anyone else in the group. They have a Google calendar set up that shows when all of them are available to baby-sit -- just check the calendar, see who's available, redeem your credits, and, voila!, free babysitting. True confession time: I don't do this myself since I kind of hate watching other people's kids, but I can see how it could be really nice and convenient if you're more easy-going than I am.

24. Stop buying aerosol cooking spray and use a Misto, instead.

25. If possible, breastfeed. Baby food doesn't get cheaper than that. For my thoughts on the topic and some tips for success, read my post here.

26. Speaking of breastfeeding, one way to save money is to make your own nursing pads. They take very little sewing skill to make them. Besides, if you mess up, who's going to see them?

27. Also on the baby-feeding front, skip store-bought teething biscuits and make them yourself. They're so simple to make and your baby will love gnawing on them.

28. Ant problem? Skip the poison spray and use cinnamon to deter ants. It's cheaper, non-toxic, and they hate the stuff.

29. Want to find the cheapest gas where you live? Find the best prices for gas with gasbuddy.com. All you have to do is pick your state (or Canadian province) and enter your city or zip code. Brings up all the gas prices in your area. Easy peasy.

30. Keep your freezer full. It takes more energy to keep an empty freezer cold. If you need to fill space in your freezer, fill some empty milk jugs with water and keep them in there.

30. This may seem kind of obvious to some, but don't wash clothes until they need washing. Just because you've worn something, that doesn't necessarily mean it needs to go straight to the hamper. Not only does this save money by cutting back on the cost of energy and water, but it also will help your clothes last longer.

31. Don't use a new towel every time you shower. When you're done showering, hang it back up, let it dry, and it's ready to use again. One way to cut back on towel laundering: when I was a teenager, my three brothers and I went through tons of towels (mostly from leaving them on the floor). Mom was washing them all the time. Her solution? She bought each of us two towels in our favorite colors (I can still remember that mine were purple at the time) and those were our towels for the week. If we were sloppy and didn't hang them up when were done using them, we were out of luck. Mom's strategy totally worked.

32. Grow your own sprouts. It's really, really easy. You can find my complete instructions here.

33. Water down your dish soap. I have an olive oil dispenser I use for dish soap. I fill it up half-way with water and then fill the rest with dish soap. I've been doing this for a while with no problem. It has definitely helped me cut back on how much dish soap I buy.

34. Switch to flannel sheets during the cold months of the year. We keep our thermostat set in the low 60s at night, so it can get pretty chilly in our house at night. One little thing that makes a big difference: flannel sheets. A few weeks ago, I was feeling pretty chilly despite wearing pajamas, socks, and having a couple blankets piled on me. Then I remembered that we were still using our thinner 100% cotton sheets. I switched them for our flannel sheets and they made all the difference. Nights have been much cozier, despite our subzero temperatures outside and our lower temperature inside.

35. Don't buy breadcrumbs. They're just too easy to make from stale bread, old hamburger buns, and the ends of the bread loaf that most people don't like for sandwiches. Click here for how I make breadcrumbs; click on this link I just found (yay!) on how to make panko crumbs.

36. Same thing goes for croutons -- don't buy them, either. You can read about how I've made croutons from scratch since my teenage years here.

37. Pinterest is your money-saving friend. There are so many good ideas, tricks, tips, and articles that can save you a bunch of money. If you're not pinning stuff yet, you're missing out. Just saying. (P.S. -- You can follow me here if you like.)

38. Speaking of Pinterest, that's where I found my favorite homemade glass cleaning recipe: the Alvin Corn glass cleaner. It consists of isopropyl alcohol, vinegar, cornstarch, and water. Works just as well, if not better, than the store-bought stuff.

39. Rotate your tires. For a great post about the topic and even a how-to for doing it yourself, click here.

40. Use a laptop instead of a desktop computer. Laptops use 80% less energy than their desktop counterparts because it's powered by a battery.

41. If you do use a desktop computer regularly, be sure to set your computer so it automatically goes to sleep after 10 minutes of not being used. This will not only save money, but make your hard drive and monitor last longer.

42. If possible, refinance your mortgage. Interest rates are so low right now, so, if you can, take advantage of them. We refinanced a little over a year ago from our 30-year mortgage to a 15-year mortgage. We cut our term in half, but, because of low interest rates, our payment only went up around $150 per month.

43. Cancel your gym membership if you're not using it more than a couple times a week. I've had a tendency many times over the years to keep my gym membership in hopes that knowing that money is coming out of my account automatically will compel me to go to the gym. Not the best motivation, really.

44. Learn to knit. I mean, with a couple needles and a ball of yarn, you can make stuff! It's a great skill to have and you can knit all sorts of neat, handmade things for the cost of a skein of yarn. Even better, if you have a Ravelry account (it's free), there are literally thousands of free and inexpensive patterns at your fingertips. Of course, there's a caveat to this: knitting can get expensive. Like, really expensive. You know you have a problem when you think about buying a $20 skein of bulky baby alpaca wool yarn (ahem) and it doesn't seem that outrageous. Yarn stores can be dangerous. Consider yourself warned. One other benefit: there is evidence out there that says that knitting is as effective as Prozac in helping with depression. I can believe that.

45. If you pre-rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, use cold water. Skip the heated dry cycles on your dishwasher, too.

46. Ice cube trays are a great tool for saving and freezing small portions of food -- that last bit of tomato paste in the can, baby food purees, pesto, herbs, etc.

47. When your mascara seems like it's running it out, it usually still has some left (I read somewhere that even a quarter of the tube is left!). An easy way to get everything out of your tube of mascara or to give a dried-out tube new life: give it a few drops of contact solution. Use the brush wand to mix it up and you get more mascara. I've done this and it totally works!

48. Get that last bit of make-up/toothpaste/ointment/finger-paint, etc. out of a tube by snipping off the end with a pair of scissors. You'll be surprised how much you might have wasted just because you couldn't squeeze it out before.

49. Become a compulsive scraper like me and wield that rubber spatula with pride!

50. Keep birthday parties under control and bring back the old-school birthday party at home. You can find my post about how we did my son's birthday party on a budget here.

51. Don't buy frozen waffles. Make them yourself, freeze them, and pop in them in the toaster for breakfast. You can find a couple of my family's favorite waffle recipes here and here.

52. Skip the ice melt and just use cheap water softener salt for icy driveways and walkways. I buy a 50-lb. bag of water softener salt at Costco for $3 and it works just as well as the pricier, specifically-for-melting-ice kind of salt.

53. Have you heard of crystal deodorant? Crystal deodorant is a frugal choice because it lasts up to a year. It's basically a rock. You get it a little wet, glide it on, and it keeps you smelling fresh for 24 hours. Something about the minerals it leaves behind on your skin makes your underarms inhospitable for odor-causing bacteria. My husband uses it every day and I can testify that it works. It's especially good for him because of his sensitive skin -- most deodorants make him break out in a rash; this one hasn't done that at all.

54. Close your closets to save money on heating and air conditioning. Apparently, from what I've learned, closing your closet doors lowers the amount of square feet your furnace or A/C has to heat/cool. Plus, closing closets along exterior walls of your home actually helps insulate a little.

55. Sell clutter. Have a yard sale. Sell old DVDs and books on Amazon. Try online classifieds. Your clutter may be exactly what someone else is looking for.

56. Take care of your clothes before washing them to make them last longer. Before you put clothes in the washing machine, zip, button, fasten hooks, and turn clothes inside out. Doing this prevents snags, minimizes wear and tear, helps prevent piling, and helps clothes fade less, allowing you to get the most wear out of your wardrobe.

57. Bring your own bags to the grocery store -- some stores offer small discounts per bag you reuse. I know from experience that Whole Foods gives a discount per bag (the ones in my state discount 10 cents per bag). I've read that Target gives 5 cents per bag, as well as Kroger's and Trader Joe's. For a super-easy and super-cheap way to make a reusable bag, you can see how I changed an old t-shirt into a bag here.

58. Buy generic and store-brand medicine whenever possible. The FDA actually requires that these versions of medicine provide the same benefits as the name-brand counterparts. They have the same ingredients! The name-brand stuff just costs more because they've spent more money on research and marketing. Since the generics don't pay for that, the savings are passed on to you.

59. I'm new to the whole smartphone thing, but from what I understand, data plans usually allow anywhere from 300 MB to 10 GB in downloads per month. Be careful what you download onto your phone because you may be going over your data plan limit without even knowing it. One way to really push the limit is by streaming video. For some tips on how to not go over your limit, check out this link I found.

60. Also, while on the topic of technology, there are plenty of people who want to buy your old and even broken electronics and phones. For some tips on how to make some money on them, check out this article.

61. Save money on beans by buying them dry instead of canned. A one-pound bag of dried beans yields about as much as three cans yet it costs half as much to buy them dry.

62. Pay yourself first. Arrange to have a certain percentage of your paycheck automatically deposited into a retirement fund (like an IRA or 401k) and/or some other savings account. This is something I learned when I was first married and read The Automatic Millionaire. With each paycheck, we have a certain percentage put into our 401k before taxes. We also have our bank take out a set amount each paycheck and put into savings automatically for us. When it's automatic, you don't have to struggle with having the willpower to do it yourself.

63. Reuse rainwater. This is something I have yet to try (especially since it used to be illegal in my state. Go figure.), but I'm totally intrigued. I live in a very dry state, but even a little can make a difference: I read that during an inch of rainfall, 900 gallons of water flows off a 30 x 50-foot roof! You can find more information from these articles I've pinned, here and here.

64. Avoid rush hour and save gas. By leaving just 30 minutes earlier or later than you normally do, you'll spend less time idling in traffic and wasting gas.

65. Stock up on office and art supplies during back-to-school time. That's when I buy ten boxes of crayons (when they're only a quarter for the 24-count boxes), packages of pencils for 50 cents, a handful of trays of Crayola watercolors for 75 cents a piece, notebooks for 15 cents, three-packs of glue sticks for a buck, and a myriad of other things (have I mentioned that buying school supplies makes me feel a little giddy in the fall?) that my family will use all year.

66. If you choose to cloth diaper (yes this can be still be on a list of "painless ways to be frugal". Cloth diapering is not nearly as bad as everyone thinks it is.), the most frugal way to diaper your baby is with prefold cloth diapers. My favorite prefold diapers range in price from $2-4 each (it depends on whether or not you want regular or organic cotton and what size you get), which is much cheaper than the other kinds of cloth diapers (like pocket diapers and all-in-ones, which usually range anywhere from $10-25 each). Prefolds are my favorite way to diaper my baby -- for all my reasons why, check out this post about them.

67. If you do go the cloth diaper route (again, don't knock it until you try it), a diaper sprayer attached to the toilet makes cleaning those poopy diapers much, much easier. For around $30 and hardly any effort, you can make your own cloth diaper sprayer instead of forking out $50+ for a pre-made one. For the supply list and complete instructions, check out my post here.

68. Canned and frozen fish is a great and frugal way to buy seafood. Unless you live on the coast (you lucky people you) or you're at a higher-end store, the fish at your grocery store's seafood counter has often been frozen already. I actually had a guy working at the seafood counter at a store tell me that the shrimp they sell in the case is just thawed shrimp from the bags in the freezer section (and it cost more to buy it at the counter. I wonder why he was being so honest...). Frozen fish is cheaper and, in many cases, fresher than the fish on ice in the seafood case. In fact, lots of fishing boats have freezers on board and they flash-freeze it right away. Canned fish is a great alternative, too. Canned salmon works just as well in fish cakes or in a salad as fresh salmon does. We use canned tuna quite regularly (my husband and six-year-old son love to eat the kipper snacks and sardines. Not my bag, but I'm glad they like them -- it's a super-healthy snack) and I particularly like to buy wild salmon in vacuum-sealed packs.

69. Stop buying cans of condensed soup and try a homemade alternative. There are a bunch of recipes and ways to make your own condensed soup simply on Pinterest -- here are a few I found.

70. Pay bills on time and avoid late fees. It's a no-brainer, but something I think most people are guilty of, myself included.

71. Skip the store-bought costumes and bring back the good, old-fashioned homemade costume for Halloween. You don't need serious sewing skills to do it, I promise. For some ideas, check out my post all about it.

72. Unplug your stuff and avoid "vampire electronics". I always thought this was a silly suggestion (I mean, how much energy can a still plugged-in charger waste?), but the U.S. Department of energy estimates that 5% of all electricity used in the country is to power stuff not being used. Who knew?

73. Buy items at warehouse stores but do it wisely -- not everything there is a good deal. For a good guide on what's a good deal (and what's not) at stores like Costco and Sam's Club, check out this helpful list I found.

74. Make your own furniture dusting spray with olive oil, vinegar, lemon essential oil, and water. For the recipe, click here.

75. To resurrect an old broom, put a rubber band (or more if your broom is really suffering) around the bristles at the bottom (a few inches from the base). Leave the rubber band on for a day or so and when you take it off, your broom will work as a good as (almost) new.

76. Vacuum out your dryer's vent at least once a year. Not only is all that lint in there a fire hazard, but when it's cleared out, your dryer works much more efficiently. When we vacuumed out ours, I noticed a huge difference in how fast things dried, especially towels. For a complete step-by-step how-to, click here.

77. 'Selective squeamishness' can save you a lot of money. I first learned the term from The Tightwad Gazette. Basically, selective squeamishness means that you move past the initial "ick!" reaction and realize something's not so bad after all. For example, this past fall my husband and I picked tons of apples from his parents' yard. Since they don't spray their trees (yay! free organic apples!), lots of the apples had holes where worms had bitten them. Some were unbitten but bruised. No big deal -- we just cut around the blemishes and made applesauce with them.

78. An easy way to save money: whenever you pay in cash, save the coins. Only use paper money to buy things. Use a jar, can, or even a traditional piggy bank like mine to save all the coins you get. A few dimes here, a couple quarters there adds up. I can't wait to see how much we get out of our bank (it's half-full and it's already so heavy!).

79. Have a big family? Save money during the holidays by organizing a gift swap where everyone draws a name of someone in the family. You could even set a limit to how much everyone can spend. Both my family and my husband's family have been doing this for the last few years and it has worked out well.

80. Make your toilet a water-saving one by putting a water-filled jar into the tank. The jar displaces some of the water and tank doesn't refill with as much.

81. Grow chives.

82. Drive your car like you would ride a bike. You don't see cyclists gunning uphill -- they take it slow and steady. They use momentum on hills to their advantage. Cyclists don't hit the brakes at the last minute -- they slow down and ease into stops. Most cyclists start slowly after a stop and gradually speed up. Driving like you're riding a bike won't only save gas, but it'll be easier on your car, too.

83. Stock up on kitchen staples when they go on sale. Whenever I go grocery shopping and I see something we eat a lot of on sale, I buy extras. Also, some things go on sale at certain times of year. One example: around the holidays, all the baking stuff goes on sale and that's when I stock up on butter, sugar, flour, etc.

84. If a product doesn't meet its promised standards, tell the company. For example, I bought a frozen pizza once from the health food store from brand I liked (I know, I know, I wrote a post about making homemade pizza on here, but I was pregnant and barely had energy to go to the store, let alone make a pizza). When I got it home and I unwrapped it, I noticed a hair on it. UGH! (as if I weren't nauseated already). It was, like, baked into the cheese. It wasn't the store's fault, so I called the company's number on the box. I wasn't rude, I made an extra effort to be polite, and told them what I found. They were super apologetic and sent me TONS of coupons for free stuff. Now you'd think that I wouldn't want anything to do with this company, but everything I'd used of theirs before had been great; I knew this was just a fluke. I did the same thing with a yogurt brand I loved -- I opened a couple of mine and saw that there was mold growing in them. I called the company and they sent me a bunch of coupons for free yogurt. Most companies want your business and will make an effort to rectify any problems so you don't waste your money. But, please, be polite to those customer service people and don't make a mountain out of a molehill.

86. Buy spices in bulk, by weight.

87. Make meal plans. It helps you use what you have better, helps you keep your shopping list focused, and you don't have to have that "I-don't-know-what-to-make-for-dinner scramble" in the evenings. Here's a link to a meal planning printable I've been using.

88. Do a plant swap with a family member, friend, or neighbor when you're dividing plants and flowers in your garden or if your plants have sent off some volunteers. My mom has a really pretty orange flower that goes nuts in her yard every year, so she digs them up, puts them in little cups or pots with some soil, gives them to me, and I plant them in my yard. I've given her some of the sage in my garden to plant in her yard, as well as some lamb's ear. One of my neighbors gave me a bunch of columbines she was digging up. Hooray for free flowers!

89. Don't turn your nose up at cheaper cuts of meat. Instead of boneless, skinless chicken breasts go for bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks (those parts are more flavorful than the chicken breast anyway). Cheaper cuts of beef usually have the words "chuck", "round", or "flank" (you can always tenderize these cuts by marinating them). With pork, one of the cheapest cuts (but my favorite -- I love PW's recipe for spicy shredded pork) is usually the shoulder (also called the butt roast, which confused me for a while.I called my dad, who was a butcher at the time, while I was at the store, "Where's the shoulder? All I can see is butt roast!"). Also go for family packs of chicken and meat, divide it up yourself, and freeze it. You can also buy a whole chicken instead of buying by the piece and cut it up yourself (for my complete how-to for cutting up a whole chicken, click here).

90. When you're preparing a meal, save scraps for stock in the freezer. Save your carrot ends, the outer layers of onions (not the skins, though), stems from herbs (like parsley), celery leaves, empty pea pods, and anything else you'd use in a stock in a freezer bag. Save the bones from your cheap cuts of beef or chicken (but in separate bags -- you don't want to make beef-chicken stock. Best to keep them separate.). You can also save shells from shellfish like shrimp and lobster to make a seafood stock. Keep these bags in the freezer and when you have some time, whip up a batch of homemade stock -- it's better than the store-bought stuff, it's crazy cheap (you're using stuff you would have thrown away!), and really easy to make.

91. Lower your water heater temperature. I read that lowering your water heater temperature from 140 to 120 degrees (which works for most people) can reduce your hot water costs 6-10%. Right now we don't have our temperature lowered because I like using really hot water to wash cloth diapers, but once we're done with that phase, we'll lower it again.

92. Don't buy microwave popcorn.

93. I'm sharing this news like it's gospel -- start your own seeds with milk-jug greenhouses. Seed starting just doesn't get any easier than that.

94. Get acquainted with coconut oil. It's incredible how versatile this stuff is!

95. Replace your furnace filter monthly, even in the summer. I had a repairman tell me that when he came to fix my air conditioner (and I trust this guy -- he gave me an honest second opinion when another company said I needed to spend over a thousand dollars to fix a non-existent problem). When your filter is clogged with dust, your furnace has to work harder, it becomes less efficient, and it can damage the furnace after long enough. He also said you don't need to buy the expensive filters -- the cheapest ones are fine unless you have severe allergies and require a special filter.

96. Use a push mower. Our gasoline-powered one was really starting to wear out and smoke more, so we got this push mower. I'm telling you now, with the utmost honesty, this mower isn't any harder to push than our gas-powered one. It's amazing.

97. Create a waiting period for yourself before you spend more than $50 on a single item. Give yourself a 24- or 48-hour waiting period to decide if you really want/need that item or if it's an impulse purchase.

98. Keep an open mind.

99. Don't buy stuff you cannot afford.

100. And, finally, some practically perfect advice from Mary Poppins: "Enough is as a good as a feast."

{This post is linked up to Your Green Resource, Homestead Barn Hop, Simple Lives Thursday, Little House Friday, and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.}

"We're debt free!": Of Car Payments and Baby Step #2

2013-01-18T18:36:00.001-07:00

I thought about calling Dave Ramsey today. Even more, I wish I could visit his studio in Tennessee, sign the wall, and chat with him on the special debt-free scream phone. If only. However, I doubt I'd be able to get a call even through onto Dave Ramsey's show, so that leaves me with this option: I'm going to do my debt free scream here (magically through my fingertips). Here goes:

"WE'RE DEBT FREEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

{Now I'll insert some inspirational/cheesy picture I found via a Google image search of the word "freedom".}

This week, the husband and I paid off our car. It was awesome, to say the least.

It was especially satisfying since, back in 2010, we were debt-free. We worked hard to pay off my student loan (nothing major -- just a couple thousand dollars from my sophomore year), some credit card debt, and the first car we purchased together. I remember walking into the Chase bank back in February of 2010, with three-year-old Max toddling along with me in his Oshkosh overalls, and giving the banker at the desk all that was owed on the car. I walked -- it felt a little more like floating -- back to the car, buckled Max into his carseat, sat down in the driver's seat, shouted, "We're debt free!" For the rest of the week, I remember how Max would just randomly stick both of his little arms up in the air and shout, "We debt feeeee!" (not a typo -- that's how he said it). We had completed Dave Ramsey's second baby step and paid off all the debt except the house!

A couple months later, my husband's commuter car, a 1997 Subaru Legacy wagon we'd purchased from my parents, died. Literally, it committed some kind of car suicide and various parts of it just died. Soon after, our first car together, another Subaru that was well over the 200,000 mile mark, started to struggle. After much thought, much debate, and prayer, we decided it was time to buy a new car.

Only we didn't have enough money saved to pay cash for one. We'd only been debt-free for 3-4 months. We considered buying a beater car, but with plans for adding to our family and my husband's commute, we decided to get something fairly new and with low mileage. That meant we'd have to finance. I remember driving out of the dealership in our beautiful and blue new Subaru (Yes, we're fans. You would be, too, if you lived where I do) and I just burst into tears. I missed being debt-free already.

Just barely over 2 1/2 years later, that car is paid off. Even just driving Max to school, running errands in it, or getting it washed feels different. That car is ours. I can't think of a better word...it's, well, awesome.

I'm not going to lie, I've been imagining all day what I would say to Dave if I called in. I probably would have told him all that stuff I just wrote. I imagine he'd ask how we did it. What would I say? That there's no magic bullet or trick to getting out of debt. My husband has done a lot of freelance work to get us to this point -- it's like he's been working a second job, which hasn't been easy on either of us.

I would tell him that you just have to keep going and plugging along. The little things, the little actions I'm always mentioning on this blog, truly do add up. I can't say that I've ever been hanging laundry on the clothesline or rinsing out a poopy diaper over the toilet or spraying my kitchen counter with vinegar, thinking all the while, "Take that, debt snowball!" But, you know, it was always somewhere in the back of my mind. It kept me going, it kept me focused when I knew what I was working toward and why.

Anyway, I just had to share. Thank you for indulging me.

On to Baby Step #3...

Off the Needles: Chunky Fingerless Gloves

2013-01-15T18:31:00.004-07:00

I don't know if it's very cold where you are, but it is FREEZING here! This winter has been pretty intense in my neck of woods, with lots of snow and weeks where the high temperatures are in the teens. Honestly, I don't mind it most of the time, except when I have to get into a cold car or if I'm heading out to take care of the chickens when it's -2 degrees outside.

One upside to cold weather: knitted stuff! I learned how to knit just barely over a year ago and I was so ready to make a bunch of scarves, hats, mittens, and cowls for the cold weather. Then we had a super-wimpy, super-warm winter. The things I had knitted were hardly used at all. It was a total bummer.

This winter is making up for it. I've got more knitting requests from my family than I can keep up with!

Toward the end of the winter last year, in March, I knit up some fingerless gloves. I definitely didn't need them at all once they were finished, but I pulled them out a couple months ago. They've since become a staple in my car. I keep them in the car for those mornings when I drive my son to school, when the temperature is hovering around zero, and the steering wheel feels like it's made of ice. I just put these babies on and my hands are feeling pretty toasty in no time.

One other thing I particularly like about fingerless gloves: you can wear them, be warm, and still enjoy the dexterity of your fingers (have you tried looking for anything in a diaper bag while wearing mittens?); if your fingers get too cold, you can curl your fingers inside (these gloves are roomy enough for you to do that).

I knitted these gloves from a pattern I picked up at my favorite local knitting store (it's actually the shop where I took my classes), but you can also download it via Ravelry for only $4. The pattern is so easy to follow -- easy enough for a beginner, for sure.

I used a single skein of Lion Brand Yarn's Wool-Ease Chunky (a Christmas gift from my brother and sister-in-law) -- nothing fancy, but it's warm! I used 16-inch US size 9 circular needles (I think they were 16-inch...). I knit them in my spare time, here and there. This project was really quite simple, even though they were the first pair of gloves I'd ever knitted. (You can find my Ravelry notes for the project here.)

Really, I should have a nicer way to model and photograph these gloves. It'd be way cuter to show them on hands wrapped around a steaming mug of hot chocolate or something. Alas, I don't have the hands for modeling fingerless gloves, being the chronic nail-biter that I am. My husband says I have Frodo nails (watch the movie -- whenever there's a close-up shot of Frodo holding the ring, you'll see that he has really low fingernails). They're not so feminine, I'll admit. Sigh. So, yeah, this picture will have to do.

I love these gloves. They're easy to make and they're warm. I'm in the process of knitting a pair for the hubs right now (I've got a skein of local 100% alpaca wool I got on sale -- it will be perfect!). These gloves are so versatile -- the pattern allows you to use a wide variety of needle sizes and yarn weights so you can make them as chunky or skinny as you like.

Knit a pair. That way, you'll have them ready for any cold snap that comes your way. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop, Simple Lives Thursday, Your Green Resource, Little House Friday, and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.}

Peel Appeal: 7 Ways to Use Citrus Peels

2013-01-09T09:02:00.000-07:00

Don't you find it interesting/awesome that citrus fruit comes in season when we need it most? These delicious fruits, packed full of Vitamin C, are at their best when the cold and flu season are at their worst. Like I said, it's awesome.

What's even better is that citrus is at its cheapest right now. We've been especially stocking up on oranges (Cara Cara oranges are my favorite) and clementines. And while the fruit is wonderful and nutritious, I think that one important aspect of citrus is often overlooked: the peel.

Here are seven ways you can make the most of your citrus:

1. Zest them.
The peel holds many of the oils that give citrus its wonderful flavor. Adding zest to foods gives it a nice lift, I think. I use lemon zest all the time when I'm cooking and baking (I use this grater whenever I need lemon or orange zest -- works better than any other fine grater I've tried). The peel of citrus fruit is also healthy -- the limonene in the peel actually stimulates your body's antioxidant detoxification enzyme system, actually helping prevent cancer (I learned that from a book called Superfoods Rx). It's a shame, really, that we throw this beneficial part of the fruit away!

2. Boil them.
Want to freshen the air in your home? Bring some water to a boil, add the peels (I sometimes add a little vanilla, too), let them boil for a little bit, then reduce the heat to low. Let the mixture simmer for as long as you want, but be sure to add more water as needed.

3. Scrub with them.
I found this great tutorial about how to use dried peels to make a homemade scouring scrub. She simply let some grapefruit peels (I'm sure you could use other kinds of peels) dry for a few days, then she ground them up in her food processor until they were a fine powder. Add some borax and baking soda and you've got a pretty great scouring scrub -- and the author of the post says that it smells "heavenly".

4. Clean your disposal with them.
Citrus peels are great for cleaning and deodorizing your sink's garbage disposal. Just stick them in there, turn it on, let them grind away for a few seconds with some water, and you've got a sink that doesn't stink.

5. Sweeten them.
I've never tried it, but you can candy orange peels. I saw this recipe last month and was intrigued. Have you ever made or eaten candied peels?

6. Burn them.
I wish I had a fireplace. I'll have to pass this tip from Apartment Therapy on to my parents. Dried peels apparently make really good kindling. The oils in the peels fuel the fire. Not only will using dried peels make your home smell like roasting oranges, but they emit less creosote than paper thus keeping your chimney cleaner.

7. Soak them.
For the last couple months or so, I've been soaking some of our orange peels in vinegar. The result? Orange-infused vinegar. It smells so nice! (a pro for people who want to clean with vinegar but don't like the smell. I'm not one of them, but I do prefer the smell of oranges to vinegar!) Plus, oils from the peels are antibacterial, so I figure it'll give the vinegar an extra little cleaning kick. I use orange-infused vinegar everywhere in my house -- it's a great all-purpose cleaner.

I also used this concoction to do my semi-annual serious scrub-down of our chickens' home. Not only did it help clean out all that chicken poo and make it smell really fresh, but the citrus helps deter insects from making a home in the henhouse (I learned that here - and I'm going to make her mint-lavender-vinegar refresher spray for the ladies' coop this summer).

To make citrus-infused vinegar, simply put the peels (you could use orange, lemon, grapefruit, any sort of citrus) in a jar (I've used both pint-sized canning jars and reused spaghetti sauce jars), fill with white vinegar, and let it sit for at least a couple weeks. Once the two weeks are up, strain the vinegar into a spray bottle. For hardly any effort, you get an effective all-purpose cleaner that smells great and costs only a few cents. It's one of those simple things that makes this frugal girl's heart happy.

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop, Simple Lives Thursday, and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways..}

Some Thoughts on Open-Mindedness & Frugality

2013-01-04T00:05:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago, I was looking through some recent comments made on old posts. One comment, in particular, caught my attention.

Let me back up a bit and tell you what the post was about, first.

Back in August 2009, I wrote my second post ever on this blog: a book review for The Complete Tightwad Gazette. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it's a 900-page book full of frugal tips and ideas, a collection of articles from author Amy Dacyczyn's newsletter. I read this book years ago, in the days before I had kids, when I'd only been married for about a year, just barely graduated from college, back when things were especially tight financially for the husband and I. While the book has lots of great information (though, since it was written in the early 1990s, it's a tad outdated), it also has some pretty out-there, albeit creative, ideas. For that reason, I didn't give it a glowing review. Looking back, I may have been a little overly critical, maybe even a little snotty.

Back to the comment thing...

So I got a comment on that old post, almost exactly three years after I wrote it, from someone saying she was the author's daughter. I can't be entirely sure if it truly was written by Ms. Dacyczyn's daughter since the name the comment was left under was simply "Unknown." In any case, the comment was polite in addressing my criticisms and pointed out a few inaccuracies on my part. This prompted me to re-read the post, one I'd sort of forgotten about.

It was more than a little embarrassing. Humble pie, anyone?

In the review, I specifically turned my nose up at the notion of people saving bread tabs, washing and reusing plastic zipper bags, reusing old and unmatched socks as rags, saving and reusing the mesh bags from onions, and finding uses for empty milk jugs. In the post I joked about wondering where she "stores all this garbage she collects." I even found her criticisms of using disposable diapers off-putting.

Um, I do all of those things now. What's more, I've written about all of them on this blog. Oops. {Insert facepalm here.}

Thankfully, I've grown wiser in the 3 1/2 years since I wrote that post. Let's just say I've evolved in my frugal journey. I mention all of this to demonstrate that one key, one main key, to living frugally is to keep an open mind. Living frugally often requires, to use a couple cliché terms, a paradigm shift and thinking outside of the box.

Take cloth diapering, for example. Even at the beginning of my pregnancy with my second child, if someone would have told me that I would do cloth diapers with him, I wouldn't have believed it. It seemed like too much work and much too, well, gross. Who uses cloth diapers these days, I would have asked. I only had memories of how my mom cloth diapered my little brothers back in the 1980s -- big prefolds, diaper pins, plastic covers -- and that wasn't appealing at all.

A few months into my pregnancy, I learned that that my husband's cousin, Nisha, was using cloth diapers. I was intrigued. She wrote a guest post on this blog and I was determined to look into the whole subject more. Before long, I decided to give it a try. My baby is nearly two years old and we're still using cloth diapers on him. It hasn't been nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I'm just as used to them as I was with disposables with my first child. In fact, I prefer using cloth over disposables now. And, best of all, we've saved hundreds of dollars in the meantime. I love not having diapers on my shopping list.

Another example of a paradigm shift and open-mindedness is from my mom. Throughout my childhood, I can remember my mom cleaning everything with bleach. And why not? It was dependable. It was cheap. That bleachy smell let you know that the germs were dead and that things were clean. A few years ago, as I was trying out different eco-friendly, homemade options for cleaning, options that were also really cheap, my mom kept an open-mind. She didn't switch at once, but now she uses baking soda, vinegar, and castile soap for the bulk of her cleaning (though she still uses bleach now and then). She saw that they worked, that "clean" didn't need to smell like bleach.

This has happened over and over to me -- there have been ideas I brushed off, only to try them later and realize that they actually work well . An old sock missing its match makes a great bathroom cleaning rag. A mesh onion bag wrapped around a dishrag makes a surprisingly good scrubber. Bread tabs save your spot on a roll of tape. Washing plastic zipper bags is really not that much of a bother. Reusing milk jugs changed how I'll garden every summer.

Sure, there are some ideas that still seem out-there when I come across them. There are some in The Tightwad Gazette that I still think are a little extreme and, frankly, weird. This time, though, I'm not going to say which. Who knows what I'll be trying in the future.

{This post is linked up to Simple Lives Thursday, Little House Friday, Your Green Resource, Homestead Barn Hop, and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways}

Wrapping Up 2012: The Year's Most Popular Parsimonious Posts

2012-12-29T10:38:00.001-07:00

Crazy how fast time goes by, isn't it?

Like all years, it's been a pretty eventful one for our family. The kids are growing like crazy; Max started kindergarten and my baby is nearly two years old. I feel so ambivalent about growing kids -- I love them at the age they are and want them to be little forever, but it's so much fun to see them grow, too. Thank goodness they both get even better with age. My super-talented husband has been really busy with his full-time job at Disney Interactive, as well as with his freelance work. It's been stressful at times but also a blessing -- this year we saved up enough money to buy a second car (a very basic but nice little commuter car for my hubs), to do some home renovations (we redid all the floors on the main level of our home and painted our cabinets), and we're almost debt-free (just a couple thousand left on our car -- yay!). I also turned the big 3-0 this year (which wasn't so bad, especially since we softened the blow with a trip to Disneyland).

The year was also full of frugal and homestead-y firsts: I finally got the backyard chickens I'd been wanting for years, Kevin and I (and my parents) started our beekeeping endeavor (no honey for us this year, thanks to super-dry conditions, but we're optimistic about 2013 honey harvest), and we had our first yard sale. I also grew zucchini for the first time in my garden, started my own tomatoes from seed for the first time, and I even bought my first can of beer this year (to kill snails in my garden, of course). I wonder what we'll try next year...

Anyway, I thought I'd do what I did on here a year ago and look back to see which posts were the most popular (according to page-views) and compile a list of the top ten. I find it odd/interesting/amusing that a third of the posts in my top-ten list deal with poo. Go figure.

So, without further ado, here are the top 10 posts from 2012 on The Parsimonious Princess...

10. Adventures in Cloth Diapering: The Post about Stripping

Like I wrote in the post, the title isn't even close to as scandalous as it may sound. After a while, some types of cloth diapers get minerals, oil, and detergent built up on them making them really stinky (we battled serious ammonia odors before I stripped our diapers) and less absorbent. This year, I stripped our cloth diapers for the first time. This post covers what worked and what didn't, plus some other info about build-up and how you can avoid having to strip cloth diapers as often.

9. Abbey's Award-Winning Zucchini Cake

Make this cake. Hopefully you have some shredded zucchini in the freezer because this cake is awesome (just like my friend, Abbey).

8. How I Reuse Dryer Lint for Camping, Emergency Preparedness, and Beekeeping

Yes, I found a reuse for dryer lint. Lint is notoriously flammable, so why not use that flammability to your advantage and make fire-starters? An update since I wrote the post: after my first season of beekeeping, I highly recommend using these fire-starters in your smoker. The fire-starters burn for a while and produce a nice, cool white smoke. There have been a couple times when I didn't have a lint fire-starter and it was much harder to keep the smoker lit (and even when it was lit, it didn't last nearly as long as it did with the fire-starter in it). So, yeah, yay for dryer lint!

7. Recipe for Relief: Homemade Teething Biscuits

So easy to make. Your little one will love gnawing on them.

6. In the Backyard: My Milk Jug Mini-Greenhouses and How Empty Milk Jugs Changed My Garden

I put both of these posts in the #6 slot because they were in the top ten but basically about the same thing -- why have them take up two slots? That said, this is one my favorite things I tried in 2012. I'm still amazed that it worked and I actually started my own tomatoes from seed this year -- it was so easy! I'm going to start saving my empty milk jugs again pretty soon!

5. Adventures in Cloth Diapering: The Post about Poop

Yep, I wrote a whole post about babies and poopy diapers. Apparently people wanted to know about it. It makes sense -- whenever people find out that I cloth diaper my baby, I can tell they want to ask about how I deal with the stinkier side of it all. This post has just about everything you need to know on the subject.

4. How We Made Our Chickens' Water Poop-Free

It's been so much fun having chickens and collecting their eggs (I still get a little excited when I see eggs in the nesting box). What was not so fun about keeping chickens? Constantly changing disgusting, poopy water. Enter the 'chipple' (as the husband and I call it). Problem solved.

3. Ants Hate Cinnamon

They do. They really do.

2. Clothesline 101: How to Get Softer Line-Dried Clothes

Who would have thought that a tip my lovely grandmother gave my mom back in the 1980s would become one of my popular posts on the blog?

1. Sudsy Savings: Two Homemade Hand Soaps

This post and the one in the #2 slot are so close -- it's almost a tie -- but the homemade hand soap eked out a win. I love that it's popular because homemade hand soap is so easy to make and so, so cheap. We've been using homemade hand soap all year and will continue to in the next. If you're not already making your own hand soap, give it a try for 2013!

{Although it's not a post from 2012, I have to mention the little post that could: the post about making an emergency heater from rubbing alcohol, toilet paper, and new paint can. Babble first featured it on a post about DIYs for the zombie apocalypse and then it went a little nuts on Pinterest. It's gotten tens of thousands page-views in just a couple months. I'm still amazed.}

Thank you so much for reading my blog. I hope it has helped your life in some way. I have fun writing it. I enjoy taking tons pictures of kids, animals, and inanimate objects for it. It keeps me focused on my money-saving goals because I feel a sort of accountability to you all. Plus, trying all the new things I do (partly doing them with the intent to share the results with you) keeps all this homemaking and child-raising fresh and fun for me. I'm not perfect at it -- not even close -- but at least it's interesting.

Best wishes for you and your family in 2013!

{This post is linked up to Your Green Resource, Simple Lives Thursday, and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.}

My Favorite Cookbooks of 2012

2012-12-21T15:13:00.001-07:00

First, let me state for the record that I realize I've been a slacker on this blog this month. I apologize, faithful readers. It's for a bunch of reasons -- lack of time, spending any free-time knitting gifts (or a hat for my son's Who costume for the kindergarten Grinch play), and simply enjoying the Christmas season with my family (we're making gingerbread cookies today). Honestly, it's been nice to take a break. Plus, taking a break has gotten me even more excited about this blog and its possibilities.

Okay. Excuses made. On to the post!

Anyone who has read this blog for a while knows of my love for cookbooks. I read them like novels. I love the pretty pictures. I love the possibilities. Lucky for me, 2012 has been a great year for cookbooks. I know I'm missing a few from my list (hopefully, I've either got this one or this one wrapped and under our Christmas tree right now) and I'm sure there are some out there I haven't even heard of (clue me in, please!), but I feel pretty good about this list.

That said, I meant to write this about my favorite cookbooks post sooner in case you wanted gift ideas, but...well...the excuses were made in the first paragraph. I guess you could still order one of these cookbooks (today is the last day for two-day shipping on Amazon for before-Christmas delivery) or you could hop over to a local bookstore (if you feel brave enough -- having worked retail for a few Christmas seasons, I know full well what shoppers face this close to Christmas). Or, maybe you'll get a gift card for Christmas and you can pick one of these up after the holiday.

In no particular order (except for the last one which will be my #1 favorite of the year), here are my five favorite cookbooks of 2012.

5. An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler
I'm cheating a little on this one because only the paperback version of this book came out this year (it was initially released in hardcover last year), but I had to include it. I loved this book. It's not a traditional sort of cookbook -- no pictures, mostly prose with recipes thrown in here and there. But let me tell you, this book made the way I regard eating and cooking food so much more mindful. There's a thoughtfulness, a grace to the way she writes about the simplest things. At one point, she had me excited to boil a pot of water. Awesome. (For more on the book, you can read a full review I wrote a few months back here.)

4. The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from my Frontier by Ree Drummond

I love PW. I love her blog. I feel like I know her. I think if I saw her at the grocery store, I'd forget that she has no idea who I am, and start chatting with her about her family and the ranch like I'm a close friend. I absolutely loved her first cookbook - I've used it so often that the spine is broken, the pages are wavy and splattered, and some pages are starting to fall out. Everything I've made from that book has rocked (well, except the prune cake. Not my cup of tea, but I did try it). I say all that because I was chomping at the bit to get her newest cookbook this year. When I got it, I was so thrilled that it was thicker and had more recipes. So many options -- it even had a canning section (albeit, a really small canning section, but still!). I have to come clean and say that I don't love it as much the first, but it is a great cookbook. Nothing complicated. Lots of variety, something to please everyone.

3. Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round by Marisa McClellan

I love canning and I really like this book. No matter if you're a novice canner or if you've been canning for thirty years, this book has something to offer any canning enthusiast. I wrote all about it in full detail here.

2. Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosentrach

We've heard over and over and over about the importance of family dinner. I completely agree that it's important on so many levels, that this simple act could help change the trajectory of society and our nation's families. In our busy world, it's a bit of a struggle for people (my family included) to sit at the table and have family dinner every night. So when I saw this book's title, I was immediately drawn to it. I mean isn't Dinner: A Love Story such a fantastic title?

This book is really cool in that it's a cookbook meets family memoir. I had fun reading through it, even though at times I felt like I couldn't relate very well to her experience. I felt like the author's complete opposite: she's a working mother (writing and editing magazines -- one of my dream jobs), Jewish, from the cool and busy New York City area, who unwinds with a martini in the evenings; me, a stay-at-home mom and Mormon girl, born, raised, and living in nice-but-sometimes-boring Utah, who's never so much as tasted a drop of an alcoholic beverage. In the end, though, our differences didn't really matter -- I still enjoyed reading her experiences, I appreciated and admired her goals, and I looked for ways to implement her ideas. Her and her husband's blog -- of the same title as the book -- has since become one of my favorites to read.

As you can see in the photo of my copy, I've got quite a few bookmarks -- and that's only in the first section of the book. So far, we've liked what we've made out of it. One recipe that stands out -- the chili recipe is amazing (hint: it has cinnamon in it. Whodathunk?). It's my new go-to chili recipe. It was the first thing I made from the book and I was converted.

And now, for my favorite cookbook of 2012. I'd go as far to call it one of my favorite cookbooks I own.

Drum roll, please...

1. The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying and Start Making by Alana Chernila

I don't remember how I learned about or where I saw this cookbook, but the minute I did, I ordered it. I knew it would be right up my alley.

As I've written many times on this blog, I always prefer to make things from scratch, for the money-saving benefits as well as the health benefits. This book has recipes for everything I felt I had to buy processed. Take graham crackers, for instance. I had no clue how to make them, so I always bought them at the store (well, until we stopped eating hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup and then it was no graham crackers at all). This book has a recipe for them -- they're easy and delicious. With this book, I've also made Oreo-style cookies, marshmallows (this past summer, we made s'mores with homemade graham crackers and marshmallows - wow), hamburger buns (so easy!), granola, brown sugar, salad dressing, and yellow cake, to name a few. And there are so many others things I need to try making: homemade Fig Newtons, mayonnaise, cheeses, Pop-Tarts, veggie burgers. There's even a recipe for a homemade Twinkie (with only ten or so ingredients instead of the 39 in the {now-defunct} store-bought variety).

There's something empowering about this book. I like not having to rely on certain processed foods. I like having control over what my family eats -- especially when it comes to my kids. I know what is (and what is not) going into their foods. It's just cool. The book is laid-out very nicely. I love the photography. Each recipe has a short essay/blurb before it, which I always enjoy in a cookbook. Get it. I can't recommend it enough.

2012 was definitely a good year in my kitchen and for my recipe repertoire.

{Have you read/cooked from/bought any of these? Any cookbooks I overlooked? Suggestions are always welcome.}

(This post is linked up to Your Green Resource, Simple Lives Thursday and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.)

Still Here. Christmas in Full Swing. Sorry for the Silence.

2012-12-07T11:07:00.004-07:00

I know it's been quiet here for a while. We've been all wrapped up in the Christmas season -- baking, decorating, shopping, wrapping, upcoming parties, all the knitting (I procrastinated the gifts and stockings that have to be done in time). I seriously love this time of year!

I'll be posting again soon, I promise.

See you then.

- Heather

Homemade vs. Pre-made: Basic Cranberry Sauce

2012-11-21T07:40:00.003-07:00

Cranberry sauce is like whipped cream. Whenever I make whipped cream from scratch, I get all sorts of impressed expressions like, "Wow! Real whipped cream!" or "I wish I had the time to do stuff like that!". I'm always torn between the prideful part of me that wants to look awesomely domestic and the side of me that is ever-eager to dispense any sort of knowledge (hence this blog). Usually I'll come clean and tell people how incredibly easy it was to make and how it only took a few minutes.

The same goes for cranberry sauce. People think it's fancy when you make your own, but, really, it's a cinch to make; it only takes around ten minutes hands-on time. I know that for some people (like my dad) Thanksgiving isn't quite Thanksgiving unless the cranberry sauce belches out of a can and has lines imprinted on it. To each his own. That said, the canned stuff does have high fructose corn syrup in it and I'm all for avoiding that stuff completely. And, as it is with most homemade foods, the from-scratch version tastes so much better than the canned kind. There are a bunch of different recipes for homemade cranberry sauce (some use orange juice, some have sugar, some have maple syrup, some have oranges or pineapple added to it), but the recipe I'm sharing with you is a basic, whole-berry cranberry sauce.

So, do you want to impress your guests at Thanksgiving dinner? Here's how...

For this recipe (it yields around 2 cups of sauce), you'll need:

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
One 12-oz. bag of cranberries

Rinse the cranberries in a colander. In a medium saucepan, combine the water and the sugar. Bring to a boil.

Once the sugar-water mixture is boiling, add the cranberries. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Stir occasionally.

This is my favorite part...

I can't quite explain why, but I like to watch the cranberries start to split (they get these fun lines and designs on them) and then pop. Yes, I am easily entertained.

Let the mixture boil gently for about ten minutes. By then, the cranberries have all burst and have broken down nicely.

Pour the cranberry sauce into a bowl, cover, and let it cool completely at room temperature. Don't worry if the sauce looks kind of soupy at this point -- as it cools, it will reduce and get firmer. It reminds me of jam -- as it cools it begins to set.

Once it has cooled, refrigerate the sauce until you're ready to serve it. Your family and friends will appreciate and admire your efforts. It's up to you whether or not you tell them how easy it was.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

{This post is linked up to Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.}

18 Ways I Use Vinegar at My House

2012-11-13T00:36:00.001-07:00

My husband teases me whenever we go grocery shopping because I usually buy more gallons of vinegar than gallons of milk. I tell him that someday, when the zombie apocalypse finally happens, we will be the envy of the neighborhood because of our stockpile of vinegar. It'll be a hot commodity, I tell you (we'll have to guard our stash with a double-barrel shotgun), because it's useful in so many ways.

Here a few of the ways I use vinegar at my house...

1. All-purpose cleaner. This is the #1 reason I think that vinegar is a great thing to have on hand (zombie apocalypse or no): vinegar (straight 5% solution -- the kind sold at supermarkets) kills 99% percent of bacteria, 82% of mold, and 80% of viruses. Because of this, I use vinegar to clean just about everything in my house. To make an all-purpose cleaner, mix equal parts white vinegar vinegar and water in a clean spray bottle. That's it (though sometimes I add a few drops of orange essential oil). I use this cleaner in my kitchen, bathrooms, everywhere. Best of all, this all-purpose cleaner is way cheaper than a store-bought all-purpose cleaner. I also love it because it's just vinegar -- no funky chemicals to worry about. (One word of warning -- don't use vinegar on marble or granite surfaces.) Your home won't smell like vinegar once it dries, I promise.

2. Dishwasher rinse aid. Fill up the rinse aid dispenser in your dishwasher with straight white vinegar instead. Totally works for me, even with my hard water.

3. Garbage disposal cleaner. A great way to combat stinky kitchen drains is to freeze white vinegar in an ice cube tray. Once frozen, pop a few vinegar cubes into the disposal and turn it on. It not only gets rid of the stink but it also helps sharpen the blades of the garbage disposal, too.

4. Stain remover. I use vinegar in the laundry room a lot, especially since white vinegar works well for getting rid of stains. I think it works particularly well with food stains. Here's a link to the stain fighting chart I have in my laundry room, courtesy of Martha Stewart.

5. Fabric softener. Did you know that vinegar is a natural fabric softener? I pour around 1/4 - 1/2 cup of white vinegar into the middle of the agitator (that's where my machine's fabric softener dispenser is) and it gets released into the rinse cycle. The vinegar keeps our clothes static free when I use the dryer - I haven't purchased dryer sheets in over two years. Vinegar is also helpful for the clothes that I dry outside on the clothesline -- it makes them less stiff. And don't worry about your clothes smelling like vinegar -- once they're dry, the vinegar smell disappears.

6. Eliminating boy bathroom smell. I grew up with three younger brothers. I have a six-year-old boy now. I am well acquainted with "boy bathroom smell". (Is it really that hard to aim? Really?) What's the best way to clean the floor around the toilet? With vinegar! Not only does it neutralize the smell and kill germs, but it's also a safer way to clean. Mixing bleach with anything with ammonia in it (read: urine) can create a dangerous toxic gas. True story. Anyway, I splash vinegar around the base, let it soak for a while, then mop it up.

7. Toilet bowl cleaner. I've been cleaning the toilets in my house with only vinegar for years. When I clean a bathroom, the first thing I do is flush the toilet, add about a cup of vinegar while the bowl is refilling with water, and close the lid. I clean the rest of the bathroom (with spray bottle filled with vinegar) while I let the vinegar in the toilet do its work. Once I've finished cleaning everything in the bathroom, I'll scrub out the bowl with the toilet brush and all stains come right off. Flush and the dirty work is done.

8. Cleaning up vomit. I've mostly have experience with this from my (recently departed...sniff) cat. Let's just say he had a sensitive system and grazed on grass as if he were half-cow. Anyway, vinegar is good for cleaning up vomit because it has a more neutral acidity level than stomach acid, which helps neutralize that horrible vomit smell. I usually attack those stinky spots with a mixture of water and white vinegar (about a 2:1 ratio) and the smell goes away pretty quickly.

9. Glass cleaner. I'm a big fan of the "Alvin Corn" glass cleaner recipe I found on Pinterest. To make it, you only need vinegar, rubbing alcohol, cornstarch, and water. It's inexpensive and it works really well.

10. Pickling. I used so much vinegar canning this fall. Pickled peppers, dill pickles, sweet pickles -- delish. You certainly can't pickle without vinegar.

11. Salad dressing. Vinegar goes great with salad. I like splashing some red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar straight onto my salad and eating that way. You can also make your own Italian dressing with vinegar -- for the super-easy recipe, go here.

12. Coleslaw. My husband served an LDS mission in the southern United States. After spending two years in the South, he come home with a love for slaw (especially when it is piled up on a hot dog with some chili. I thought it was weird until I tried it. YUM.). Lucky for him, I've been making it pretty often since I discovered Paula Deen's recipe (so easy, so good!). Without vinegar, coleslaw is just cabbage and carrots; vinegar is what makes it work.

13. Turning milk to buttermilk. Real, cultured buttermilk is always best in recipes, but sometimes I don't have it on hand. In those instances, I make do by mixing a little bit of vinegar with milk. To make a subsitute for 1 cup of buttermilk, mix 1 Tbsp. of vinegar with a cup of milk. Let it stand for about 10 minutes -- this will give it time to curdle the milk and thicken. Only use this method if you'll be cooking or baking -- it's not meant for recipes where you would use buttermilk raw, like in a salad dressing.

14. Health drink. Drinking a couple teaspoons of apple cider vinegar mixed with water a few times a day is supposed to be really good for you. My husband used to drink it every day when he was in high school and said it helped him with colds and such. I've been trying to drink it regularly, but the stuff is strong. I'm trying to get used to it. I'll let you know if any of those health benefits start kicking in. I've also mixed a little bit of ACV with my chickens' water because it's supposed to be beneficial for them, too.

15. Hair detangler. Believe it or not, you can actually use apple cider vinegar as you would conditioner. I used apple cider vinegar in place of conditioner for a while back in 2010. It totally softened and detangled my hair. I don't use ACV conditioner as often anymore, but I do use it whenever I'm in a pinch. To make vinegar conditioner, simply mix 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar to a quart of water (I just kept a quart-sized Mason jar in my bathroom); pour over your hair (I usually just focused on the ends). Let your hair absorb the vinegar-water mixture for a minute or so, then rinse. I promise your hair won't smell like a pickle.

16. Dyeing Easter eggs. Never buy egg-dyeing kits again. Making your own Easter egg dye is ridiculously simple. For the how-to, go here.

17. Cleaning the chicken coop. I decided to give the ladies' housing a good scrub-down last month following the instructions from this helpful post about naturally disinfecting chicken coops with vinegar.

18. Baking soda + vinegar = cheap entertainment. Kids love seeing vinegar and baking soda combine. Who am I kidding? I still think it's fun to mix the two. My husband helped Max build a little volcano out cardboard last year. Then, he put a shot glass in the middle (the souvenir one that he got as a joke for me after a business trip to Austin. It says, "Don't Mess with Texas" ). Add some vinegar, food coloring, and baking soda and Max thought it was the coolest thing ever. We've also done the fun activity with the pan of baking soda and the colored vinegar in a dropper (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, click here). Who knew a chemical reaction could be entertaining?

Oh, vinegar. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop, Simple Lives Thursday, Your Green Resource, Farm Girl Blog Fest, Frugal Fridays, and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.}

Breathing a Little Easier with Eucalyptus Essential Oil

2012-10-31T23:16:00.002-06:00

There's been a bit of blog silence here. I could blame it on a myriad of things. For part of the week, we were busy painting our kitchen cabinets. Then there was the planning and execution of our annual Halloween party this past week. Or maybe it was partly because I was busy searching thrift store racks and sewing costumes, sometimes until 2 AM (hobbit and mummy costumes this year). Part of the reason for the blog silence was most certainly due to my oldest child getting strep throat, which meant lots of downtime just hanging out (read: snuggling), watching Halloween movies, and drinking smoothies. To top it off, my other boy got a nasty little cold a couple days later (how does a little nose produce so much mucus, I ask you). It's been busy, to say the least.

But now the boys are better, for the most part. My baby still has a bit of a cough and I'm still, to his chagrin, wiping his nose from time to time. One thing that helped my sweet little guy...

... eucalyptus essential oil.

Eucalyptus oil has a strong yet refreshing smell and has been used as a remedy for centuries, first by the aborigines of modern-day Australia, then to the people of China, India, and Greece. It's powerful stuff in that little bottle! (For more a comprehensive look at eucalyptus oil, check out this helpful link.)

The way I use it to help my kids with colds is at bathtime. While I'm running the water, I just add a few drops (like five or so) to the bath. In seconds, the entire room smells like eucalyptus. It's like Vapo-Rub in bath form.

I also use it in the shower, particularly in the middle of the night. I swear kids' coughs get and sound worse at night. Last week, there was one night in particular when my little guy's coughing woke him up and he was just miserable. I took him the bathroom, put a few drops of eucalyptus oil on a washcloth, put it in the tub, and turned the shower on as hot as it would go. The room filled with the eucalyptus-infused steam and my little guy fell back asleep soon after. (Sidenote: I saw these homemade vapor shower disks on Pinterest a while back and I have yet to make them, but they seem like a great thing and I'll bet they'd work better in the shower than just the oil on a washcloth.)

The nice thing about eucalyptus oil is that it is one of the less expensive essential oils. You can use it in other ways besides the one I've mentioned -- as far as I can tell, eucalyptus oil is a great basic essential oil to keep on hand. I still have lots to learn about essential oils, but the more I learn, the more I like them. And if they help my little ones breathe easier, even better.

{Disclaimer: I think it goes without saying that I am no doctor. Not even close. I got a degree in English, people. So if you have any concerns or questions, contact a physician.}

(This post is linked up to Your Green Resource, Simple Lives Thursday and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.)

Off the Needles: Max's Birthday Slippers

2012-10-18T18:54:00.001-06:00

Months ago I was going through some of my first son's old clothes, seeing what would fit my baby-turned-toddler. At one point, I came across a pair of slippers. They were nothing fancy -- just a basic fleece slipper with a dinosaur pattern that I'd bought years ago at Old Navy. Max picked them up and said, "Oh! My slippers!" I'd forgotten how much he'd liked wearing those as a three-year-old. He looked at them for a while, tried to put them on (they didn't fit, of course), and then he said, "Mom, maybe you could knit me some slippers when it gets cold!"

Few things make me happier than knitting requests from my family. It makes me kind of giddy. I resisted the urge to pick up my needles right then. Instead I said as casually as possible, "Oh, sure. Maybe in the fall I'll make you some." While I said this, though, I was thinking, "Yaaaaay! Birthday slippers!!!"

Then last month, I searched for a pattern on Ravelry and came across this one for children's mukluk slippers. I thought they were so cute and they looked pretty easy, too (before this project I'd never knitted any sort of footwear). I picked up some green yarn at my favorite yarn store and got to work. Since I didn't want Max to see them, I waited until the boys were in bed to knit. For a couple weeks in September and a few nights in October, I would spend an hour or so knitting while watching British period films (mostly Bleak House) or streamed episodes of Raising Hope on Netflix. A lovely way to spend my post-kids'-bedtime free-time, I must say.

I gave them to Max for his birthday yesterday. He opened them first thing in the morning and slipped them on. He loved them! And that makes me a happy mama.

The pattern is great -- very easy, very straightforward. It can be downloaded for only $7 -- totally worth it. There are no tricky stitches, increases, or decreases -- just the basics, really. There is only a little bit of sewing required at the end to stitch up the seam (just an overcast stitch, which is really simple). Making these was a good learning experience and I even overcame my (unfounded) fear of double-pointed needles (they're not nearly as tricky as I thought they'd be). The pattern requires around 100 yards of bulky yarn (I picked the Comfort Chunky because it's machine-washable and soft), a pair of size US 7 straight needles, and a set of size US 7 double-pointed needles. (For my Ravelry notes, click here.)

The slippers fit a pretty wide range of young kids, from a toddler size 7 to a big kid size 5 -- there are instructions to make them either small, medium, or large. I'm glad that there's a pattern to make them in an adult size because the whole time I was knitting them for Max, I kept wishing for a pair of my own!

I can't recommend this pattern enough. Max tells me that they're warm and comfy. I'm going to be knitting up a pair for my 18-month-old soon (so many things to knit, so little time!). Not only do they make a great birthday gift, but they're something you could definitely whip up for Christmas gifts. I can already tell that $7 pattern is going to go a long way in my knitting repertoire!

{This post is linked up to Simple Lives Thursday, Your Green Resource, Little House Friday, Farm Girl Blog Fest, Homestead Barn Hop, and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.}

My Fall 2012 Canning Recipe Round-Up

2012-10-12T17:58:00.001-06:00

It's that time of year when my kitchen always gets a little overrun with jars, lids, and rings. The canner is always on my stovetop whether it is in use or not. There are apple peels, tomato tops, peach skins, cucumber ends, and other scraps in bowls headed to the compost heap or to the chickens. The countertops are covered in sticky patches of juice and sugar syrup. My kitchen gets hot, I sometimes burn my fingers, and the pile of pots and bowls in my sink stacks up. Most nights I feel too tired to cook because I feel like I've been in the kitchen all day (pizza, anyone?). Even so, when I see the jars lined up in my cupboard, all the mess and work reaffirms my love for fall canning (though it would be nice to have prettier labels on them. For now, masking tape and a Sharpie will have to do). Plus, I love canning with my mom -- we get to spend a lot of time chatting and being productive all at once.

Anyway, I thought I'd do a recipe round-up on here, a list of links to the recipes I used this canning season.

1. Jam
The first thing I made this fall was jam. Homemade jam turned me into a jam snob.

This year, I made raspberry, blackberry, and peach jam. My raspberries didn't produce as much this year, so I only got a couple pints of it (so, so sad -- raspberry is my favorite!). We got lots of blackberries, though. For my blackberry and raspberry jams, I simply used the recipe from the pectin label. Nothing but fruit, sugar, and pectin. For the peach jam, I used the recipe from Food in Jars -- I love it because it has this very warm, fall-like taste to it with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon zest. Yum.

2. Salsa
Again, nothing on the shelf at the store even comes close to being as delicious as homemade salsa. We made two kinds this year.

The first is roasted tomato salsa. This recipe is THE best canned salsa recipe I've tried, period. It's from the blog Doris and Jilly Cook. I would make gallons of it if I had enough tomatoes. I love it because it has no vinegar in it. Now anyone who has read this blog for a while knows of my deep love for vinegar, but whenever I've made other salsa recipes, there's usually vinegar in it and it overpowers all the other flavors. This recipe uses lime juice instead. Another thing I love about this salsa is that tastes fresh, even months after it has been canned and sealed. I reminds me of the salsa you'd get at good Mexican restaurant.

And the recipe couldn't be simpler -- just tomatoes, a few dried peppers (boiled until they're pliable), a big onion, cilantro, garlic, salt, and lime juice. Broil the tomatoes for a few minutes. Put the tomatoes and all the other ingredients into a food processor. Puree. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for ten minutes. Pour into hot jars. Remove air bubbles. Adjust lids and bands. Process. Easy. Mom and I have made three double-batches this year and we'll probably do at least one more (*crossing my fingers that all those green tomatoes I have turn red*). What more can I say? This recipe rocks.

The other salsa we made this year was tomatillo salsa. The recipe we used is from Food in Jars. This salsa verde is delicious -- it was tangy and sweet and just a little spicy. I just picked all of my tomatillos and my mom has buckets full of them, so we're going to be making a bunch of this salsa over the next week or so. So good. Plus, it's great for a Halloween appetizer -- I often serve salsa verde and guacamole with dark blue corn tortilla chips at our annual Halloween party (Martha gets the credit for that idea).

3. Pickles
Some aspects of my garden this year were disappointing (what happened, green beans?) and frustrating (curse you, blossom-end rot), but there was one aspect that was awesome this year: my cucumbers produced so well! At one point, I had around 15 cucumbers in my fridge -- and they just kept coming. We ate a lot of them in salads and on sandwiches, but we also pickled a lot of them.

We did two different types of pickles. First, we made sweet pickle chips -- Mom and I made them for the first time last summer, sort of as an experiment, and we ended up loving them. They were great on their own, but also worked well in potato salad and macaroni salad (I used them in Pioneer Woman's recipe for macaroni salad. Now I'm craving it.)

Last year, we canned dill pickles and they were tasty, but they definitely weren't the crisp kind of dill pickles I love. Then I came across this recipe for refrigerator pickles (so, technically, they weren't canned, but I'm including them because it's a sort of preservation). They were so, so easy to make. It took probably 20 minutes at the very most (maybe less -- I wasn't really timing myself) to make them. As indicated in the recipe, I let them sit in the fridge for two days. Then we tried them. To quote my husband, "This is the best pickle I've ever had." Delicious! What makes them even better? When you run out of the pickles, you just slice up more cucumbers, add them to the brine, let them sit a couple days, and -- voilà! -- more pickles! The name of the recipe says it all: "The Very Easy and Neverending Jar of Pickles".

4. Peppers
Just check out the post before this one to read all about the sweet pickled peppers. No need to be redundant, right?

5. Applesauce

In my effort to eat less refined sugar, I've been cooking some foods with applesauce as the sweetener (like these waffles. Yum.). Since I try to only buy organic apples (they're #1 on the dirty dozen list this year, after all), I've been getting organic applesauce at the store. It's pricey, though. Imagine how excited I got when my in-laws said we could pick all the apples we wanted from their unsprayed apple trees! Organic apples for free! Some of them were blemished and had some nibbles from worms on them, but we picked them anyway. Then, my mom and dad went on a trip to Zion National Park and found a u-pick organic apple orchard and picked 40-lbs of apples (for both applesauce and all the juicing my parents do) at a remarkably low price (we're talking like under a dollar a pound -- a steal compared to the organic apples at the grocery store). No more pricey, store-bought organic applesauce for us!

Applesauce is so, so easy to make: you cook the apples until they're soft and then puree. I like to use the food mill pictured above because it eliminates the need for peeling or coring the apples. But you don't need a food mill to make applesauce -- I've used a food processor, too. For the step-by-step of how I make applesauce, check out this link.

It's been a busy season and there's still more I want and wish I could do. Sometimes I overestimate my time, my kids' patience, and my endurance. That said, I love canning not just for the self-satisfaction of seeing those jars in my cupboard, but because it's an exercise in gratitude. It's an extension to the awe I feel about growing food and seeing how others grow it. Everything about canning is lovely. Well, except cleaning up.

What have you been canning this fall?

{This post is linked up to Little House Friday, Your Green Resource, Simple Lives Thursday, and Farm Girl Blog Fest.}

Pack a Peck (or at least a few pints) of Sweet Pickled Peppers

2012-10-08T21:17:00.000-06:00

My husband loves pickled peppers. He eats them on hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza, salad, and sandwiches. Since he loves them so much and since they're so easy to make and since my mom had a bit of a surplus from her garden to share, she and I canned a few jars of them.

This recipe (adapted from this one) is so simple. You can make just a few pint-sized jars or go gung-ho and pickle a peck of peppers (which, incidentally, would yield about two gallons worth!). There's still plenty of fresh produce at the farm stands and coming from the garden (unless you forgot to cover your plants like I did last night. So sad.), you could put up a few jars of sweet pickled peppers in less than an hour.

To make sweet pickled peppers (this recipe yields 4 pint-size jars), you'll need:

around 1 lb. peppers {I used mostly banana peppers but you could use other mild varieties, like Anaheim or Hungarian.}

4 cups of white vinegar
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. whole mustard seeds
1 tsp. celery seed

1. Wash and sterilize four pint-size jars (or whatever size you want to use -- half-pint sized jars would be good, too.).

2. Slice the peppers crosswise, so you end up with a pile of pepper rings.

3. Put the pepper rings into the sterilized jars, leaving 1/2" headspace. (As you can see, my 18-month-old is a burgeoning canner. He was "helping" me put the peppers into the jars. And don't worry -- these were really mild peppers so his cute, chubby hands were fine.)

4. Next, mix the the vinegar, sugar, mustard, and celery seed and bring to a boil.

5. Pour the hot mixture over the peppers, being sure to leave 1/2" headspace. Run a knife or rubber spatula around the inside of the jar to remove the air bubbles.

6. Make sure the rims of the jar are clean and adjust the lids and bands. Process the jars in a boiling-water canner for ten minutes (be sure to adjust for altitude; I ended up processing mine for 20 minutes).

Not only are these peppers delicious, but they're pretty, too. Maybe it seems silly to tout this recipe partly because the end result looks so nice, but, to me, there are few things more satisfying than seeing rows of brightly colored food packed away and preserved in glass jars. Definitely one of those simple joys of life. They almost look too pretty to eat -- almost.

{This post is linked up to Homestead Barn Hop, Your Green Resource, Little House Friday, Simple Lives Thursday, Farm Girl Blog Fest, and Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.}