Happy birthday to Ari and me?

This week has been like a foot race. I am tired and may even have some type of virus and pink eye. (Yuck!) We are having my mother and Doug for dinner tonight, the house needs cleaning, the groceries need bought, should be out campaigning, pumpkins need cut, blog needs updated, and so on. I refused to bring any work home this weekend, but will pay for that next week. Of course, my plans are written, materials prepped, and room cleaned. However, not all the papers were graded this week and that will take some time away from me next week. This week's shopping list include some items for tonight as well as next week.

Lucky
Spent $86.05, saved $66.16, and 44%
Off list purchases wrapping paper $7, but for me. :)

Meat:
3 lbs Pork country style ribs (1.49 a lb)
Farmland boneless hams (4 lbs for 5.99)
ground beef (5lbs for $7.95)

Dairy
2 packs Kraft American singles (2 for 4.00)
Sunnyside farms sour cream (1.49 for 16 oz)

Cans/boxes:
10 Sunny Select Spaghetti (10 for $10)

Bread:
Sunnyside hamburger buns (1.49 each)

Vegetables:
2 pineapples ($1.97)
2 cantaloupes (2 for $3)
12 roma tomatoes (97 cents a lb)
2/ 3lb bags of organic fugi apples (2 for $5)
4 ct bag of avocados ($2.49)
2/ 2lb bags of Grimmway Farms baby carrots (2 for 4.00)
5 bags of fresh express spinach (5 for 5.00)
2 bunches of green onions (2 for 1.00)

beverages:
Buy 4 fridge packs of cola products (coupon buy 2, get 2 free)
2 Simply Juice (2 for $6)


Safeway
Spent $17.11, saved 16.06, and 48% off cost.
Stayed true to list! Way to go Jeff!

Meat
6 lbs Foster Farms split chicken breasts (99 cents a lb)
(split and freeze 3 lbs for next week)

Dairy
Lucerne shredded cheddar cheese (32 oz for 5.99)

Vegetables/fruits
9 kiwi fruit (3 for 1.00)

Beverages
3 Safeway apple juices (88 cents each with coupon)

Raleys
Spent $35.50, saved $11.54, and 24% off cost.
One off list purchase batteries for pumpkins. :)

Dairy`
18 ct of Raley’s eggs (1.99)

Cans/boxes
2 Newman’s Own salad dressing (2.99 each)(something for spinach salad)

Other
Arianna’s birthday cake (12.99 each)
Dreyer's ice cream (vanilla 3.49)

Vegetables/fruits
2 acorn squash (67 cents a lb)
1 butternut squash (67 cents a lb)
15 lb bag of baking sized potatoes (3.99)

Outcome- Spent about $140 dollars for this week. My goal is to stay under $150 and work towards even more savings as my skills of bargain hunting grows. My only long term concern is maintaining a quality diet, as I am unwilling to sacrifice healthy meals for the family. There are a few unhealthy items that could go, such as soda, but I do have to live with my family. lol

Menu for November 2nd through 8th

Monday (2nd)
Ham w/ pineapple chutney, roasted carrots, and mixed vegetables w/ rice(leftover ham saved for Sunday’s soup)

Tuesday (3rd)
Turkey burgers, sweet potato fries, and cantaloupe spears

Wednesday(4th)
Stuffed acorn squash (vegetarian)

Thursday (5th)
Chicken breast w/ rice, creamed spinach, apple sticks w/ cinnamon

Friday (6th)
Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup

Saturday (7th)
Barbecued pork ribs, roasted butternut squash

Sunday (8th)
Bean and ham soup

This weekend's canning recipe is pineapple chutney. I can't wait to try this with ham or chicken. I am going to double the recipe and make enough to share with others.

Pineapple Chutney
2 lbs. sugar
1 c. white vinegar
2 t. dry mustard
1 lb. minced onion diced
1 1/2 lbs. pineapple peeled and diced
1 1/2 lbs. apple peeled and diced
4 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced

Put the sugar, vinegar and mustard in a pan and bring to a boil.
Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer slowly for about 1 1/4 hours or until it thickens. Remove from heat and ladle into hot, sterilized jars. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Recipe source http://www.thatsmyhome.com/general/pachut.htm

Red pepper relish

Well, the relish is canned. I am running short on lids and had to can a mix of sizes to get all the relish canned - 3 pints and 3 half pints. I need to make a trip to the hardware store and stock up on lids and some more jars.

The relish turned out great. I cooked it longer than the recipe called for - much longer. The relish at the end of time suggested was watery and the vinegar lacked that rich flavor that it gets when it reduces due to heat and evaporation. However, after an additional 2 hours of simmering, the flavor and thickness desired arrived.

This relish has a beautiful rich, red color with amber highlights (the onions). The honey created a sweetness that is more complex than white sugar. I am surprised at how the vinegar developed a flavor that was more mellow than I expected.

This relish will taste great in any type of mayonnaise based salads (pasta, potato, or tuna), on a hot dog or sausage, with cheese and crackers, and any other way you might use a pickle relish.

Grocery list and menus for week of October 26th

I always work on my grocery lists on Thursday and Friday nights. My goal is to post on Thursday so we'll see. I shop a number of stores just trying to get the most for my money. We aim to eat a fairly simple diet with a lot of whole foods due to a number of family food allergies. This just means we don't purchase a lot of processed foods. However, with two young girls that can eat anything we buy some snacks. :)

I will update on Sunday with total amounts spent. My husband always finds some things that we need that I didn't put on my list - like milk, or something else. Of course, like all families, we do find we need to shop midweek if we forgot something. I am trying hard to economize due to tight finances and a large family.


Lucky (sales circular Oct. 21-27)

Meat:
4 lbs of beef cross-rib roast ($1.67 lb)

Dairy
Sargento cheese (2 for $5) –
cheddar and mozzarella
10 Sunnyside Farms Yogurt (10 for $4.50)
Vanilla and cherry flavor preferred

Cans/boxes
1 large bag of long grain white rice
1 large container of honey (at least 3 cups of cheapest brand as it is for relish)
1 container of whole allspice (at least 4 tsp)

Bread:
3 whole wheat sunnyside farms English muffins
(1.69 each)
1 Mission Flour Tortillas (16 ct for $2.99)
A dozen taco shells

Vegetables:
5 lbs of butternut squash ($ 0.69 a lb)
12 red peppers ($ 0.99 a lb)
4 lbs Granny Smith apples ($0.69 a lb)
3 large seasonal pumpkins (3 for $9.99)
1/ 5 lb bag of Idaho Russet Potatoes ($1.99)
1 lemon

Beverages:
Bayview Farms Orange Juice (2 for $4)

Safeway (Oct 21-27)

Meat
2 whole chickens ($0.77 a lb)

Dairy
2 Kraft Singles (2 for $4)
18 count Lucerne large eggs (w/ coupon $1.49)
Cans/boxes
4 cans of Chef Boyardee ($0.79 each)(only on Sat. and Sun.) (for weekend lunches for the girls)
2 boxes of Nabisco Snack Crackers ($1.47 each)
2 Ragu Pasta Sauce (2 for $3)
4 boxes of Golden Grain Pasta ($ 0.79 each)
(2 spaghetti and 2 macaroni)

Bread:
2 Oroweat English Muffins ($1.99 each)

Vegetables/fruits (10 for $10 sale!)
2 lbs of sweet black plums ($1 a lb)
2 lbs of zucchini ($1 a lb)
2 lbs of yellow neck squash ($1 a lb)
4 odwalla food bars ($1 each)

Raleys (Oct. 21-27)

Dairy
1/ 8 oz Daisy sour cream ($ 0.99)

Cans/boxes
2 cans Raley’s pineapple (2 for $3.00)

Frozen:
8 bags of Bird’s Eye Steamfresh Vegetables ($ 0.99 each)

Beverages:
2 Hansen’s Apple Juice ($1.99 each) two different varieties

Next week's menu
Monday (26th)
Beef roast in the crock pot, butternut squash, apple sticks w/ cinnamon
(leftovers sliced for lunch sandwiches)
Tuesday (27th)
Chili made with ground turkey, and corn bread
Wednesday (28th)
Bean soup flavored with vegetables and half of a smoked sausage served over rice
(dry beans and sausage purchased previously)
Thursday (29th)granddaughter’s 5th birthday
Double decker tacos (using hamburger from a previous buy and squash cut into small cubes), and pineapple
Friday (30th)
Chickens in the crock pot, 2 bags of frozen veggies and rice
(one chicken for dinner, the other made into Spaniel Chow)
Saturday (31st)Halloween My birthday
Baked potatoes w/ cheese sauce with squash pieces
Sunday (1st) Birthday dinner
Roasted pork loin (1/2 of previous purchase), sweet potatoes w/ peanut butter sauce, pasta salad, rolls, and birthday cake, and ice cream

This week’s canning recipe is red pepper relish
Recipe found at http://www.canning-recipes.com/recipes/red_pepper_relish.html
Well, I had to laugh when my daughter called to ask why I wanted 5 packages of English Muffins. lol Oh well... they can be frozen and we all love them (I hope).

Lucky - spent $67.11 with a percentage savings of 38%
Safeway - spent $68.20 with a percentage savings of 47%
Raley's - spent 30.63 with a percentage of 27%

We spent about $160 this week, which is a result of my shoppers not sticking to the list. lol I will not complain too much because I didn't have to go shopping myself, which gave me time this morning to go knocking on doors for this year school board candidates. If I divide the amount spent per person I spent about $27 for each.

poetry to irritate

Pumpkin

Full of promise – now
Flesh and sugar delight
Full of promise – later
Seed and earth rebirth

My daughter rolled her eyes and made fun of my poem. It is not my normal epic length rambling, but it goes with pumpkin butter - kinda sweet.

Sunday, 10-18-2009

This week sugar pie pumpkins were 99 cents a pound at Raley's. Pumpkin butter watch out! I was going to can it, but there was much discussion online about whether this was safe due to the low acid of pumpkin. Therefore, I will freeze my pumpkin butter, which is like ready made pumpkin pie. No one likes botulism.

I searched through many recipes with the goal of the EASIEST! I found a crock pot pumpkin butter recipe on recipezaar (www.recipezaar.com), recipe #42281, that looked pretty simple. I love to eat tasty food, but I hate to work too hard. This recipe had only 7 ingredients, which is always good. I did replace the four cups of sugar with 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of maple syrup. I would not modify a recipe if were canning as that can be dangerous, but I can since I am freezing it.

I cut up 2 sugar pie pumpkins and cooked the pieces for at least 6 hours on Saturday to get the pulp. Today I have mixed the ingredients and they are cooking in the crock as I blog. My tasting panel this week will be my son, age 20, who is a verbal critic. Can I win over this tough customer?