I found this recipe in one of my Taste of Home magazines and have been using the tip ever since. 

This meal is perfect for those busy nights when all you can muster up the energy for is pressing the buttons on the microwave.  I am talking good old fashioned sloppy Joe's. 

This meal is frugal, simple and most of all quick to prepare and when placed on top of a whole grain bun can even be somewhat healthy.  Previously prepared and frozen family sized meat mixture can be thawed and fried in no time making this dish even more appealing.  Into this, I typically add a small bag of ground cabbage that I normally pick up for 1/2 price on the reduced cart as well as with the pre-mixed salad bags as coleslaw mix.  This addition not only adds a little crunch and tang to the meat mixture but more importantly adds a veggie that you would otherwise not be eating.  The best part is the coleslaw has the same shape and colour as ground beef once it has been fried in the sauce and makes it near impossible for your certain picky child (or certain picky father) from detecting and ultimately complaining. I normally place a little olive oil in the pan and add the fresh cabb ... Read More »

When we bought the farm 10 years ago we were lucky to inherit a very old, extremely large apple tree .  This tree graced the front lawn and every fall brought forth an abundance of large juicy apples.  Our neighbours sent over apple pies and crisps and several dozen jars of canned applesauce were put on the shelf for winter baking.  Life was good until one year it came to a screeching halt.  No more apples, buds, blossoms...nothing.

Determined to bring her back to life my mother did some research and decided to carry out an official Apple Wassail.  Tradition says that in the mid 16th century various traditions were carried out to bless the apple orchards in hopes they would produce a bountiful crop the following year.  Traditions such as toasting the tree with Ale while reciting various poems, placing milk soaked bread at the base of the trunk and our neighbours particular favourite banging various pots and pans to several catchy ditty's. Oh and this all took place in the wee hours of a Sunday morning. Read More »

Despite the continuing heat wave, I am planning the following for our week.

Monday - Chicken broccoli stuffing casserole.  Since I forgot to make our turkey dinner (see Sunday's little disaster) I am going to make a dish with the homemade stuffing that I has been piling up in the freezer.  This should be a nice substitute until the next attempt at a turkey dinner.

Tuesday - mushroom Swiss grilled cheese - I love frying up some frozen mushrooms in butter, adding some fresh sliced tomatoes topped with low fat mayonnaise and melted cheese.   I squish all of this stuff between two pieces of homemade whole grain bread and brown it using our George Foreman grill.  Yum!

Wednesday - My hubby works late on Wednesday's so I normally make something easy for the three of us.  This also gives me a night to catch up on baking or other important jobs...actually giving the kids a bath would be a good example.  Wading pools nor sprinkler's count as a bath, right?

Thursday - whole grain pasta and homemade pasta sauce with bread machine rolls.  This is the last of the large batch of pasta sauce I made with some cut up zucchini.  I just checked our zucchini plant and I see dozens of thos ... Read More »

I cannot live without the stuff.  They are quick, convenient, tasty and for some reason they can make the worst piece of "leather like" meat taste rather yummy.  On the nights when I had no idea what to make or worst yet could not muster enough energy up to so, I could always count of those trusty cream of something soups.  Whether I threw one into a crock pot with chicken legs or smother a can over some rice with added veggies for colour, I always ended up with a decent edible meal.  I admit I was a cream soup junkie and wanted come up with a healthier and frugal alternative than the contents of those cans. 

After tonnes of s ... Read More »

My darling hubby got a kick out of this next job and in the midst of it yelled sternly "you better blog this one, I am recycling dirt!".  Our large backhoe makes the job of creating a new garden bed a cinch, within minutes we are left with huge piles of dirt beside the hole.  The cost of filing such a hole with potting soil would prove too costly so we mainly use well aged manure, compost (which I make myself) and soil that we removed from the raised bed.  In order to reuse the stuff that remains we have to take out the stones and rocks.  Enter my dearest hubby.  We (ok! he) uses a large metal screen that sits atop our wheelbarrow and proceeds to dump small amounts on top to sift as many rocks out as possible.  Once full we can add to the waiting bed and alternate between loads of compost and manure.  I know this sounds like a great deal of work (actually it is and my hubby can attest to that) but it is dirt that we already have and would have to dispose of before ordering a tandem load of plain topsoil at nearly $300/load.  We are all about recycling when possible.

I thought I would share some updated pictures of my garden.  Now for all you Americans re ... Read More »

Even though I have the luxury of being a stay at home mom that does not have to rush to work, mornings still end up being chaotic.  I cannot imagine what a working mother or father with two young children go through to get them out the door.  Breakfast has to be quick and easy, but what about healthy?.  I admit when I am in a rush a simple bowl of cheerios is what I reach for but I am trying to avoid this day in and day out.  I like the idea of waffles and pancakes but could not bring myself to make them in the morning let alone make them from scratch. 

I recently came across this Master baking mix in my favourite cookbook More for Less and decided to make the base mix as a starting point for several recipes. 

The required ingredients are as follows

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I have been slowly incorporating more whole grains into our diet, I'm not talking a simple loaf of whole grain bread but more complex grains that need some sort of preparation like soaking them to maximize absorption.  Grains like millet, Quinoa, bulgur, wheat berries and spelt are all staple grains in my pantry (I am still working on how to pronounce half of them).  I have been inspired by several sites such as Nourishing Gourmet,  Keeper of the home and Frugal granola and slowly have taken their advice in making the transition.  Here is the problem.  My 3 year old lives on love...literally.  He barely eats anything other than toast and rice let alone soaked Quinoa for supper.  I have come to the conclusion I am totally responsible for messing him up, he will have to add this to his list for therapy of things to blame his mom on.  When he was starting to eat solids I found myself eating supper alone because my hubby worked late so it usually would involve bowls of cereal or cans of soup.  Wit ... Read More »

Monday - Chili form the freezer with bread machine whole grain rolls.  This is the last of the bulk chili from the freezer and wanted to clear it out to make some room for frozen lasagnas that I have every intention of making.  The rolls will be started on the dough cycle of my machine and allowed to rise and bake in the oven. 

Tuesday - Spaghetti pie and sourdough bread garlic toast - Instead of eating the sourdough "as is",  I decided to slice it up and serve as garlic toast. 

Wednesday - Tuna casserole with whole grain pasta - You think I would be sick of this dish but I never tire of it...or is it because it's a cinch to prepare?  probably both.

Thursday - rice and bean burritos - We are skipping supper due to a drill team competition that is being held in another town.  I plan to make these at the beginning of ... Read More »

Thank goodness my husband is fine with my thrifty/neurotic ways, if he wasn't he would have ran screaming towards the hills long ago.

It was his birthday yesterday and I have been trying to come up with some sort of small gift to give him.  We traditionally don't go overboard for this occasion,  a simple cake, favourite meal and a small token is the extent of our celebrating (kids being the exception at this point, although they do not get an abundance of gifts).

Since cutting out on a particular salty snack, commonly known as potato chips, he has been resorting to popcorn to cure this craving.  For a while he was eating a bag of microwave popcorn each night and although this does contain less calories I am sure it has it's fair share of chemicals.  After reading some frugal material I discovered that you can make your own microwave popcorn using plain brown paper bags.  True to its claim it worked like a charm...for everyone except my husband.  For some unknown reason when he attempted to make this treat it never failed to burn or not pop altogether.   As the chip craving started to win over I knew I had to find something more reliable.  I have ... Read More »

I was recently asked and honoured to do a guest post at a wonderful new site called "Happy to be at Home"  This blog is made up of three moms, Kate, Joy and Toni,  with their own blogs I might add, who bring forth a wealth of information and ideas to this new joint venture.  Please check it out and take a second to check out my post, I would love to know what you think.

I thought I would leave you with a short video of my oldest taking the youngest for his very first Gator ride.  This was a gift from Grampie and one that was not taken lightly.  In actual fact this "gift" has received plenty of use in the past year, with 50 acres of property it comes in handy for the kids to get to and from the barn and has also been useful in helping Grampie car ... Read More »