Best Recipe

The editor of All Foods Natural passed this information to me. It looks interesting, but doesn't apply to my region currently. I thought I'd pass it along though for those of you in the Pacific Region.

CASTING FOR AMERICA'S BEST RECIPE

Hey Food and Wine Lovers! We are casting a new show called "America's Best Recipe", and we’re confident you will want to submit your recipe and win! The show is being done in a similar style as "American Idol", but for recipes. So it is a competition show that will be judged by a panel of food experts. We are looking for anyone who enjoys cooking and has a recipe they think is good enough to be titled "America's Best Recipe"! This show is for amateur cooks and every day people. We are NOT looking for professional chefs.

IS YOUR RECIPE THE BEST IN THE WEST?

Do you think it deserves the title “America’s Best Recipe?”

If you have a family recipe passed down from generation to generation,
or if you have perfected your own recipe from lasagna to
chocolate chip cookies to BBQ ribs, then
WE WANT YOU!

A major cable network and Parade Magazine are shooting a PILOT episode

searching to find a unique, home grown recipe that deserves the title

“America’s Best Recipe.”

In series, we will travel to several different regions covering the USA to taste all of

the strange and wonderful recipes. Each Regional finalist will gain a place in our

final high stakes episode where they go head to head in the cooking competition

of a lifetime in the hopes that their delicious creation will be crowned this year’s

“Best Recipe.”

Now Casting Amateur Cooks & Everyday People for

the Pacific Regional/Pilot:

Bring on your Recipe, your personality, and your story for the opportunity to

present your dish to our panel of judges and potentially win money, prizes, and the title of “Best Recipe” for your Region…and possibly America!

Email the following information to BestRecipeCasting@gmail.com
1. First and Last Name, Age & Occupation
2. Two contact phone numbers
3. Your Email address and at least 2 pictures of yourself and your family (if you have one)
4. City and State you live in
5. What is your dish called & the recipe?
6. Tell us the story behind it (was it passed down for generations, did something or someone inspire you to make the recipe, etc…)
7. Give us your back story and why you’d be great for the show

We Have Potatoes!

For two summers now I've been bound and determined to make growing potatoes in tires work. The anticipation was large the first time we started this garden project. As was the disappointment when it utterly failed.

There were a few factors I guessed contributed to the failure. I have this tiny itty bitty stubborn streak, and I really wanted to make this work. So
this spring we made some adjustments and planted again. We also planted some the traditional way.

Shortly thereafter, a commenter mentioned that the variety of potatoes I'd planted may be the problem. Quite honestly, that had never occurred to me. I checked out the article on growing potatoes in bins that the commenter referred me to. Unfortunately the url to that article is no longer working, but the key for me was that to grow potatoes in stacks (like using tires) you had to use a late season potato. I had been using Yukon Golds, an early variety.

After I was struck over the head with that piece of information, I decided to not stack the tires, but just let the potatoes all grow as they were. I was already onto other things I didn't feel like starting the tires over with another variety. I pretty much ignored all the potatoes the rest of the summer.

Apparently the ones in the ground could have used a little attention. I didn't get them mounded up very well, and my mom harvested them when she noticed some green ones growing out of the dirt. Wasn't she the lucky one to dig the potatoes out of our clay soil?

Awhile later, I had the easy job of dumping the tires and sifted through the nice light soil for potatoes. I should have weighed the harvest, but at a rough estimate, I'd say the two methods produced about an equal amount of potatoes. We did plant quite a few more potatoes in the dirt than in the tires, but most did not grow. I'm blaming our super wet spring and summer for that.

The potatoes in the tires were a lot nicer than the ones in the ground. They were shaped better. For the most part, they were bigger, and of course none of them were green. They also were a lot easier to clean, not to mention dig, because they weren't in the heavy clay soil.

So no, I can't call this year's potatoes in tires experiment a success. I must chalk it up as yet another garden learning experience. Now I do know that the potatoes will grow in the tires. I do know that the potatoes that grow in the tires are nice. I know that caring and harvesting them is very easy. And most importantly I know that I need a different variety to make stacking the tires work to produce a lot of potatoes in a small space. Next year I am expecting success.

Another Delicious Zucchini Recipe

I tried something new with Zucchini last night. Check out these yummy zucchini brownies.

More Free Chick-fil-A

Chick-fil-A is offering more freebies. No, you don't have to dress like a cow this time to get your free food. Simply sign up for The Chicken Wave fan club. The first 250,000 will get a coupon for a free sandwich. Plus this Labor Day, from 10:30 to close, wear your team sports logo and get a free original Chick-fil-A sandwich.

Thanks to Money Saving Mom for the heads up on this deal.

Finding Coupons for Online Shopping

Savvy online shoppers know that there are coupons available for about every online store on the internet. Finding coupons every time you shop online can add up to a lot of saved cash for your budget. The trouble comes in actually locating those coupons.

Coupons can be found by doing an Internet search using the store name along with the word coupon. More times than not, these type of searches also leave you sorting through many outdated codes, and coupons that aren't exactly what your looking for. Yes, it can be done this way, but this method can be time consuming too.

A more efficient route to coupon savings for your online shopping are sites that specialize in coupon codes, like Coupon Chief. If you know what store you want to shop, simply type in the store name and see what pops up. Say, Old Navy is having a fabulous sale on your favorite jeans and you want to figure a way to make that sale even better. Plug in the store name, and up comes lots of Old Navy coupons that could get you free shipping or a percentage off.

You can also search for your favorite stores in an alphabetical list, or you can search by the tags associated with the stores. I need to replace some blueberry bushes that did not make it this year. Searching around the tags brought me to some sweet coupons; Henry Fields Nursery coupons.

Once coupons are listed, users can leave comments about the code, and state whether it worked for them or not. You don't have to sort through all the coupon codes.That saves you a lot of time.

Do you know of some fabulous coupon codes? You will like the Pays-2-Share feature at Coupon Chief. You share your coupon, and get paid when other people use the coupon you submitted. I like it!

Shopping with coupons, whether online or in the store, does take a bit of time, but it is time well spent. Using sites like Coupon Chief help minimize your time investment while maximizing your savings. Happy couponing!

Home Canned Apple Pie Filling

A is for applesauce, apple butter, apple cider vinegar, apple slices, and this year it is also for apple pie filling. Posted about my first try making this over at Make it from Scratch today.

The Thrill of the Game

Since I began working, my coupon deals and loss leader shopping had declined. There simply isn't time to match all the deals with all the coupons at every store I'd like to. I try to keep an eye out for fantastic deals on the things we use most, but sometimes even those get missed. Sometimes I don't even have time to get the Sunday paper, so I miss out on the coupons.

It is the constant struggle a frugal mom faces; time vs. money. With the garden, preserving, and working something had to give. I had a pretty decent stockpile of drugstore items, and grocery shopping is minimal for us this time of year. It only was logical that matching coupons and sales to shop would go by the way side a bit. So much so that I'd almost forgotten what a thrill it was to get the great deals.

This week I found myself in town without kids for part of an afternoon. Anticipating this event, I brought my coupons, sale ads, and deal matches along with me. The first stop was CVS. I walked out with a bag full of cosmetics, mouthwash and other items. I spent less than $3 out of pocket (and some ECBs from previous trips,) and received a bunch of ECBs to spend on my next trip.

The next stop was Kmart. Right now Kmart is doubling all coupons (limit ten per transaction) up to $2 when you spend $25 in grocery or drug store items. I wasn't very organized for this stop, and it took me quite some time to put it all together. In the end I had several bags of items for about $17, a savings of over 50%. When I got to the register the cashier said, "It has been a long time since I had coupon lady." I took that as a compliment.

For me playing the drug store games and matching coupons is like a giant game. I beat the game when I can get things cheap. Even though it did take some time, even though I was a little frustrated at Kmart (due to my own lack of preparation,) it was an absolute thrill to me to get things we need for such little money.

As a side note if you'd like to hit the Kmart double coupon event a little more prepared than I did check out Money Saving Mom's post Double Coupon Days. She also has lots of great scenario ideas for the drugstores and grocery stores.





Photo Credit: Sourskittled

Win Ugg Boots

Doesn't wrapping your feet in sheepskin leather and fleece sound like pure bliss? I've pointed you to Whooga Ugg Boots before. I can't say that I actually own a pair, but oh would I like to.

They are having a giveaway right now. Go the Free Ugg Boots page. Simply paste their badge onto your site, and enter to win. If you don't win, they will give 15% off for putting their badge up.



I'm putting my name in. Here's hoping that by the time the snow flies here my feet will be snug and cozy in some soft and comfortable Uggs.

Enjoying the Bounty

I love this time of year when the garden is producing such a variety, and we can enjoy all its fresh goodness. Wednesday night we feasted on a garden fresh meal. We had fried okra, sweet corn, and acorn squash. Our meals have looked a lot like that lately. So much so that my eleven year old asked me Wednesday night, "Another vegetarian meal? Couldn't you at least throw some bacon in somewhere?"

For dinner Thursday night I obliged him, and made some goat burgers to go with our fruits and veggies from the garden. Dinner was goat burgers, watermelon (just slightly under ripe, but still good,) sweet corn, zucchini patties, and apple crisp.

All this good fresh eating has been good for my grocery budget too. I think I only made one full shopping trip in July. I haven't been there yet in August. There have been smaller trips for some staple items and canning supplies, but overall all our grocery spending is down; way down. I'm loving it!

In addition to enjoying the fresh bounty, I am also preserving some for the winter. I am done preserving pickles (26 quarts,) beans (49 quarts plus what was left from last year,) and zucchini (16 cups.) Still to come: cabbage, pumpkin, apples, peas, beets, and whatever else I get in for the fall garden. (It has been too wet to plant.)

The garden and preserving can be a lot of work. Sometimes too much work, but when we sit down to a meal comprised entirely of home grown foods, and I can see the pantry well stocked with home canned goodness, it is all worth while. I am truly enjoying the bounty!

Bigger Savings for Back to School

Ebates is offering increased cash back at many stores for your back to school needs. Some of these store include:

JCPenney - 5% cash back.
Use this with coupon code GET4BTS for $10 off your purchase of $10 or more. Thanks to Happy Hearts at Home for this code!

Office Max - 4% cash back.

Old Navy - 8% cash back.

HP - 6% cash back.

Check the Ebates pages for a full list of stores with increased cash back during this promotion. Be sure to check the coupons listed for each store before shopping too!

Image credit: mystockphoto

Hard Choices at Eleven

My eleven year old, Kellen, amazes me. In many ways he has always been a little man, interested in and understanding things most kids could care less about. This summer he is learning a lot about money management.

A few months back we went through the Financial Peace classes. Part of the package you receive in those classes is the CD transcripts of each session. Kellen listened to all of them. Dave Ramsey is a very entertaining speaker, but even I didn't want to sit to listen to all the CD's. Kellen really seemed to grasp the concepts, and asked a lot of questions about things he didn't understand. But more importantly he is putting them into practice as much as an eleven year old can.

This summer Kellen has earned quite a bit of money by being Papaw's farm hand, picking berries, and scraping metal. He separates his money equally into three envelopes; spending, giving, and savings.

When each of the kids were born my parents began a mutual fund for them. They add to it at every Christmas and birthday. When Kellen's savings envelope accumulates enough, the money is added to the mutual fund. He looks at the statements, and enjoys watching his money grow. Giving money is taken to church, but the hard choices come with the spending envelope.

You may remember the Wii Fund. The kids pooled their money, and bought a Wii. Since then Kellen has learned what a money pit video games can be. They all still love the Wii, but there is always some accessory, new game, or upgrade that seems like a must have. Right now he has his sites set on the new Wii Sports Resort, and a couple new controllers.

Kellen also is an avid reader. Avid, as in I can't visit the library often enough to keep enough books in the house for him, reader. Tim and I suggested that Amazon Kindle might be a better use of his money. The amount of books that thing can hold would keep even Kellen busy for quite some time. Yes, indeed, he is very interested in this device, but doesn't quite have enough money to buy it.

It is interesting to watch him try to make the decision. On the one hand, there is instant gratification. He has enough to buy the things for the Wii. He will certainly enjoy them, but probably not as long as he would the Kindle. He would have to wait a little longer to get enough money for the Kindle, and it also comes with continuing costs. The books run about $10 each. He would get a lot of use out of the Kindle. Decisions, decisions.....

It is so satisfying to see him grasp some money handling concepts such as giving and saving. It gives us hope that he won't repeat some of the mistakes that we have made in our personal finances. It is also good to see him wrestle with making choices about how to spend his money. He is weighing the options, learning that resources are limited, and that we can't buy everything that we want. These thought processes will serve him well later in life.

This is where it hits the fan.

Every year about this time things are a little crazy. Tim's reduced summer hours start to really show in the paychecks just as he starts gearing up for the crazy hours he works in the fall. The garden is in full production. All I get accomplished is harvesting and processing, while weeds about to go to seed, and vine borer lurking just out of my sight, demand my attention. Inside the house, everyone is happy if they have dinner, a clean plate to eat on, and clean clothes in the morning. Fall is right around the corner. Summer farm projects need to get finished. There are plans to be made for school, and other fall activities. It is craziness, and we are fully into it right now.

Yes, this happens every year, and this year I've added working three days to the mix. I am tired, but this year, not nearly as stressed as the previous years. There are some reasons why.

1) I've learned to say no.
This summer we are not trying to do it all. We've cut back on activities, and limited are days out of the house. This has meant we've not participated in some things that the kids enjoy, and we've missed a few things I'd really like to have been at. But we aren't stuck here slaving away everyday either. We've had plenty of fun this summer. Trying to find the balance is hard.

2) We were better prepared.
We know this time is coming. It has come for the last three years. This year we entered the summer with a well padded emergency fund. We haven't touched it, at least for bills anyway. We did decide to use part of it for a new computer; a purchase we've been wanting to make for a long time.

Just knowing that is coming helps us to prepare mentally too. The physical tired is still there, but the mental stress is considerably less.

3) Doing what I can do.
In addition to saying no to outside activities, I am also trying to not let the to do list stress me out. There are way too many things on there. I simply can not complete all the tasks that really should be completed. I prioritize the list and get done what I can. I am trying to be content in the hard work I do put in and the tasks that get done. Because I can do no more.


Late summer is just a crazy time. There really isn't much that can be done to change that, but being prepared for it sure helps us to get through these crazy months.