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Homeschooling from your bookshelves? It's possible come see how!.

Time to get ready for the new school year!!! Unless you school year round like us.
Well I'm all for frugal!
Most of us homeschoolers have enough materials on hand to educate a small army...lol.
This summer go through your bookshelves and make 3 piles:

THROW AWAY
KEEP
SELL/GIVEAWAY

Throw Away Pile: The first pile is just plain old junk, stuff that is used up, scribbled on, torn up etc. Get RID OF IT!! Including that workbook you bought on Ebay that smells like nasty musty YUCK!!

Keep Pile: This is stuff that you can use, organize it by subject, I like to buy magazine holders from the Dollar Tree or use cereal boxes with the top and side cut out and some cute wrapping paper to cover them. They are very durable if you put some clear packing tape on the bottoms. Use these for booklets, workbooks and things like that. Put subjects on them and on free days or Mom is sick days, tell our son to go and pick out an activity and spend an hour working on it. It makes learning fun because he can pick what he wants to do. Jot down what you have and later on in the summer when you really start planning out the coming school year you can see what you have to work with.

The sell/giveaway/trade pile is for stuff that is still usable, but you don't need it anymore or it did not work for your child. I have gathered up enough stuff to sell that I was able to buy some new goodies at the homeschool convention that I might not have otherwise been able to afford. The giveaway items are things that are still in usable condition that you can bless another homeschool family with. PaperBackSwap is another great way to get rid of books you no longer need. Check them out to see how they work. Or read my blog post on how it works.

By looking through what you have, you can make a plan of action for your coming school year. I am betting that everyone has at least 1 full subject that they can teach this next school year without having to buy a thing. Take some time and get digging around, see what you can find to
THROW AWAY
KEEP
SELL/GIVEAWAY

Post on here to let us know what you find!
Moe

How to save money when eating Gluten Free (or on any special diet)

I got this listing from a gluten free group that I frequent. Some great ideas here! Sometimes I know we feel like a prisoner to our required diets, so I thought this cartoon was cute!
Moe

Here are some tips from Teri Gruss on cutting costs while eating
gluten-free.

How To Cook Gluten-Free on a Budget - Cut Gluten-Free Food Costs Now!
By Teri Gruss, MS

Here are 6 practical tips and resources to help you save money on the
extraordinarily high costs of gluten-free foods. Plan ahead and you
really can save on your monthly gluten-free food costs- and at the
same time eat delicious, healthy gluten-free foods.

1. Focus on cooking with foods that are naturally gluten-free

Fresh fruits, vegetables, eggs, dairy products, nuts and seeds, meats,
poultry and fish are all healthy, delicious, gluten-free foods. Focus
on planning a gluten-free menu based on these naturally gluten-free
foods. Pound for pound these foods offer a lot of nutritional value
for the buck, compared to refined, processed gluten-free products.

2. Make your own gluten-free foods rather than buying expensive,
processed products

Savings can be substantial when you make your own gluten-free foods,
especially breads and snack foods. Another advantage in making
homemade gluten-free foods is better flavor and healthier ingredients.

3. It is convenient to keep a few packages of commercial gluten-free
mixes on hand. But you can save a lot of money by making your own
mixes. Measure, mix, package and refrigerator or freeze and you have
created your own fresh convenience mixes. Along with saving money,
when you make your own gluten-free flour mixes, you can customize them
to your own tastes and nutritional needs.


4. Join forces with other gluten-free families and friends to lower
costs. Websites like amazon.com and Shop Gluten Free Grocers sell
gluten-free foods in multi-pack cartons, including pastas and flours.
Amazon's Shop Gluten-Free Groceries website offers free shipping on
orders over $25. Bob's Red Mill sells 25 pound bags of several of
their gluten-free products, including tapioca flour and all purpose
gluten-free baking mix. They also sell 4 bag cartons at discounted
prices.

5. Join a local support organization. You'll meet other people, who
like you, are battling the high costs of gluten-free foods- join
forces, buy in bulk and save money.

6. Use coupons

Nancy Lapid, About.com Guide to Celiac Disease recently blogged about
a website that offers printable coupons for gluten-free products.


Tips:

Once a month prepare your favorite gluten free convenience mixes. I
like to make 3 pound bags of all purpose baking mixes. This amount
generally lasts for several weeks. Use it to make homemade breads,
pancakes, waffles, cookies and pizza crust. Making mixes ahead of time
is SO much more convenient than making mixes every time you need a
gluten-free flour blend for a recipe.

Once a week bake your favorite gluten-free breads, wrap them up and
freeze. Remember, making homemade gluten-free bread is like mixing a
cake batter. Combine ingredients in a mixing bowl. Beat. Pour in a
bread pan, let rise and bake. Homemade gluten-free bread is faster and
easier than making traditional wheat-based yeast breads. So don't
shudder at the thought of making gluten-free bread every week. It
requires less time than you think! The savings, not to mention
superior taste and texture make it worth the minimal effort!

Make gluten-free cookie batter and refrigerate or freeze to use as
needed. There is really no need to buy expensive, ready-made mixes.
Mixing and storing cookie dough, like making bread is faster and
easier than you may think.

Make and freeze gluten-free pizza and pie crusts, which become
economical convenience foods, ready when you need them. Use a food
processor and this task is very fast and again, much easier than you
imagined.

Develop a dependable gluten-free recipe file. This will save you not
only money, but time and disappointment. I have a constantly growing
"favorites" recipe file- my "go to" recipes that I know work and taste
great. This not only saves money, it's healthier.

What You Need

Dependable, favorite gluten-free recipes
Gluten-free raw ingredients- purchased in bulk if possible
Homemade gluten-free flour blend mixes
Motivation
Shop with a grocery list and don't shop when you're hungry!
Consult with an accountant to see if you can deduct a portion of your food costs

Makin' Space

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!  We are making space and using up food. It's so fun to go shopping from the pantry. I found some cans of fruit hidden in the back and 2 more can of Lentil soup (my guys fell in love with this, got it for .25¢ a can at the Amish Salvage store).

I've still got about 15 cans of beef broth (not gluten free) that I need to use up. Any ideas of what I can make my guys? They like soup, but then they also like crackers in soup and those have bad oils in them, so they are a no no for my husband.

Moe

Shopping again

I ran to Aldi and got a few things, spent around $21.00 and can't find my receipt to itemize it for you.
broccoli
cauliflower
mushrooms
yogurt
almond milk
dry pinto beans (going to try to make refried beans from scratch-share your recipe if you have one)
several loaves of high fiber bread for my guys (they were cheap)
Stolen (clearance & impulse buy!)
fancy cookies (clearance & impulse buy!)

Food sure does add up even when you are at Aldi!! $72.09 for the month so far on groceries for a family of 3, with me being gluten free/dairy free and now on low sodium. YES!! Saving money can be done even on a special diet.

I start my wonderful upper/lower scope prep today, drinking that wonderful drink that sends you to the bathroom time and again (I know TMI). I drink 1/2 of it today and 1/2 of it tomorrow. I would appreciate prayers for my scopes tomorrow, that all goes well and that the doctor sees what he needs to see so that he can fix the issues.

Hebrews 13:5b
"and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

Moe

What we have been eating.

We have found some goodies in the freezer.
Beef roast in crockpot with Italian seasoning (beef sandwiches)
Pastrami lunch meat (frozen)
Beef soup for lunch (frozen)
Pork chops with seasonings on them (freezer)
Chocolate chip pancakes (freezer)
GF/CF cupcakes (freezer)
Lentil soup for lunch (canned) added a can of corn and sprinkled a bit of cheese on top for color
Corn (pantry)
Greenbeans (pantry)
Fruit cocktail (pantry)
Homemade cocoa mix (top of the fridge)
More partial bags of cold cereal (top of fridge)

Pork Chops & Oven Roasted Veggies
I made pork chops again this week. I cooked them in a skillet with olive oil and some seasonings on med/high for about 20 min or until brown on each side, then I add about 1/2 cup of water and then cover (you could use broth or creamed soup if you are not doing low sodium/gluten free/dairy free like me) and cook for about 45-60 min until they are the desired tenderness, I like them falling apart) add more liquid if they are not done, so you don't burn them.

Then in the oven I made cut up roasted veggies with skins left on, I had a yam, white potatoes, celery, mushrooms, zucchinis, onions and I tossed all those in a bag with lemon juice, garlic and olive oil. Baked first 3 items for around 30 min at 450, then added the rest in and baked another 30 min at 375 until done. I did stir them a few times and check potatoes for doneness. Our 11yr old asked why the potatoes turned orange in the oven, he had never had a sweet potato before. He loved them and so did DH. I actually liked them myself, in years past I had had baked ones that were stringy and nasty, so I just assumed that they were all like that. Well I have a new veggie that I like!! Yams or sweet potatoes (same thing right? correct me if I am wrong please).

What have you been eating?
Moe

What have we been eating?

Well let me see, we have had some very warm weather here so we did campfire school (homeschooling around the campfire), I found 2 packages of hotdogs in the freezer and some hard marshmallows in the back of the pantry that someone had failed to close up with a twist tie.
Note to self: marshmallows burn very easily when they are dried out. We did not have any hotdog buns or chocolate to make smores, but that was OK! We had fun anyway and saved some carbs :O)

I almost fired up the grill, but I thought, ya know we are going to be out here doing school for the day, so why not just roast 2 hotdogs at a time until both packages are cooked. So we had grilled hotdogs for a few lunches last week.

We had some extra eggs to use up, it's amazing how the chickens can lay a GAZILLION eggs one week and then almost nothing the next week! Or the week that we really need eggs, the dear child forgets to collect them (I refuse to use eggs that have been sitting in the nesting boxes too long, I know they are suppose to be fine, but I am sort of a freak about these things.) So anyway we had a gazillion eggs this week, so I made up a large batch of french toast and we had that for several breakfasts, and guess what? When you don't have hotdog buns, a hotdog on french toast bread is pretty good (minus the syrup!). Guess you would call it A Pig In A French Toast (or maybe A Pig In A French Afgan? lol) Anyway it was good.

I found some BLSL chicken breast in the freezer and made this yummy recipe (same recipe that I used at Christmas time with a turkey, but made it with chicken this time.)

Heat oven to 350
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 c light mayo (not Miracle Whip)
2 tsp (or more) thyme
2 tsp (or more) rosemary
2 tsp (or more) pepper
2 tsp (or more) oregano
1/4 cup melted butter or margarine (I used unsalted)
mix all the ingredients together and spoon over chicken. Cover with foil and bake 45 min or until chicken is done.

I found the recipe for the mayonnaise roasted turkey at the blog SheWearsManyHats.com, click on the link and it will take you to the recipe for the turkey.

I served the chicken with Jasmine rice from the pantry, I used my rice cooker (you use whatever type of rice you have in the pantry & can make this recipe on the stove top too)
While the rice was cooking I added
2 T olive oil
1/2 T chili powder
1/2T curry powder
I would have added some cumin, but I was out and it was too pricey for my pantry challenge ;-) I had some carrots to use up so I tossed those through my Salad Shooter on 'shred' and it added some fiber and color to the dish. You might want to add a dash of salt (remember the doctor put me on a low sodium diet last week, so I am learning to taste my food and not taste salt BAH HUMBUG!!

Dessert Scotcharoos

Had some peanut butter in the pantry so I made peanut butter rice crispy treats.
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup peanut butter (we like creamy)
1 cup white sugar (wonder what brown sugar would taste like?)
2 tsp vanilla (GF)
5-6 cups rice crisp cereal (GF)
put everything in the saucepan except cereal, melt and stir together. Then add cereal and mix, pour into 9x13 pan and start eating.......lol.
then if you need it even sweeter add the topping (sometimes we just eat it!)
1 cup chocolate chips (GF/CF)
1 cup butterscotch chips (GF/CF)
melt in a pan very carefully so they don't burn or microwave until melted. Stir well and pour over Scotcharoos, let harden and eat. YUMMM!!

We have also been eating cereal from the top of the fridge, lots of partial boxes up there and one morning I made a suprise breakfast of rice crispy treats........LOL. Oh, well they would have put sugar on the rice cereal anyway, so why not serve them up a nice hot breakfast of melted marshmellows in cereal??

The guys found a few Hot Pockets in the bottom of the freezer and I found some Rice Dream Ice Cream, had a slight layer of ice on the top, but still good....lol.

What have you been eating this week?

Enjoy the saving that you are getting out of eating from the pantry.
Moe

Food Cravings ~ Challenge Day 14

I sent hubby out to the grocery store, he is a real winner in the area of shopping!! Give him a list and that is ALL that he will buy. Give me a list and I come out with a cart full.

2% milk $2.15 1/2 gallon (YIKES!! I remember when a gallon of milk was just $1.99 at Aldi!!)
high fiber wheat bread $4.19 on sale for $3.49
2# bag of rice crisp cereal $3.59
golden rasins $3.29 flour
$2.19 Mrs. Dash $2.99 (could have done without this, but the doctor wants me on a low-sodium diet as of last week.....I'm falling apart and I caved in and bought something for ME!!).

So this week I spent a grand total of $17.78 + $33.31 from last week = $51.09 for the month.
I do know that I am going to spend some $$ this coming week since boneless pork loins are on sale for $1.99 lb (whole or sliced for free) and I plan on getting a few of those for the freezer otherwise I think we are good to go shopping from the pantry and the freezer some more.

Come on and share what you have bought for you this week during the pantry challenge.

Have a wonderful week!
Moe

Soup recipe for you

Come on over to one of my favorite blogs "The Gluten-Free Homemaker" she has a wonderful recipe for beef vegetable soup slow cooker just click on the link and make a big crockpot full of this yummy goodness!

If you are not gluten free, just use regular flour in this recipe.

While the crockpot is cooking away, relax with  good book and your kids snuggled up around you and make some memories.
Enjoy!
Moe

Soup Supper anyone?

This is day 11 in my own pantry challenge and I found some soups hidden away in the cabinet. Soup suppers can be a very frugal way to feed your family. Think ahead in the day and get the bread machine out too. Make some sort of yummy bread, that always makes a meal seem special, or swing by the grocery store and pick up a loaf of crusty french bread if you are not gluten free. Pop a pan of brownies in the oven too. It's little things like that, that keep my husband from saying "Were only having soup?"

Also you might think about adding to your soup or mixing flavors, sometimes I will mix the Chunky soups or Progresso ones. Such as 2 different types of beef soups or 2 different types of potato soups and add some extra corn, green beans, peas, carrots, canned potatoes, whatever your family likes, this way it sort of bulks up the soup, as my guys don't care much for runny soups. Sometimes I add a bit of cornstarch (1/2 cup cold water to 1 tablespoon corn starch, stir it up well and add to boiling soup, stir until thickened, about 3 minutes).

If you make a potato soup you might try sprinkling some cooked bacon on top or a touch of cheese (if you can have dairy) and even some parsley. YUM!! Search the web for some very frugal potato soup recipes!!

For the homeschooling mom soup suppers can be a huge blessing!! Easy meal, no planning and you can even let the kids pick 'their own can of soup'. Or you can dump all the ingredients into the crockpot first thing in the morning, get the bread machine up and running and dinner cooks while you teach. What a blessing a soup supper can be.

Enjoy a soup meal each week and I bet you will save a few calories and $$ in the new year!

SOUP's ON!!

Moe

Pantry Challenge Day 9 How is it going?

Just checking in to see how it's going. Remember you can still buy groceries, but do your best to eat from what you have in the house, it's like FREE food!! I'm needing some raisins, but I fear stepping into the grocery store and buying more stuff! lol. If you see a great buy on something, feel free to stock up on it, but also use what you already have too.

My doctor put me on a diuretic this week and I was told to really be watching my salt. So that has made things interesting on the pantry challenge to say the least. So I got some low-salt cookbooks from the library (we love that place!), found a recipe for no salt cream soup (not great, but it was OK). I had ground beef in the freezer, rice in the pantry and celery in the fridge, also had all the ingredients for the 'cream of no sodium soup'. I used coconut milk to make that, it was the unsweetened kind, but it still had an odd sweetness to it (oh well, at least I am using it up in the pantry challenge). I made beef & rice casserole for myself (gluten free) and then I made the guys a regular one using up 2 cans of Campbell's cream soups from the pantry. I also had made some wild rice from the pantry and used that in their recipe.

For desert I made a apple buckle (some call it apple betty) using gluten free flours, apple pie filling and Rice Bran flakes to add some fiber without changing the taste or texture.

Apple Buckle with yummy coconut ice cream to go with it.

Have you been having fun with this? Make it fun, have the kids go into the pantry and make some sort of fun meal. Our meals don't have to look like Julia Childs (loved watching her as a child with my mother). Any creative meals come across your table this past week?
Moe

Pantry Challenge day 8

I found some grilled burgers in the freezer from late this summer and we had those for one dinner, then I made Salisbury steaks for the next night. I used up the rest of the hamburgers and 2 cans of beef broth mixed with some cornstarch and dried onions. I put those into a pot with a lid and put them on med/low for about 45 min minutes, I served with green beans (1 can cut & 1 can string) and packaged rice mix (all from the pantry).

Any good recipes coming your way? Share them with us.
Moe

Pantry Challenege Day 6

We cleaned out the refrigerator and had leftovers, along with corn from the freezer, canned fruit and veggies from the pantry. Sent hubby to work with cookies from the freezer and our large stash of fresh giant oranges from the local school band.

How are you doing? I have a large can of black beans, got any suggestions to hide those in something? We are not big bean eaters (well we like greenbeans......lol) and I bought those when I was on a 'lets get healthy kick.'  Yeah, the family really likes when mom gets on that high horse. lol

Moe

Pantry Challenge Day 5

I thought I would share some pictures of my stockpiles.......lol. I have a few.

First here is my stash of food that sits above my washer & dryer.

This is my NON gluten free stash of things that I need to use up.

My top of the refrigerator stash......ignore the dust up there! I'm too short to see it, so I don't dust if often :O)

My Lazy-Susan cabinet or better known as "The finger pinching spinner thing" to my toddler son back in the day. lol. Yes I have a ton of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce because the Amish salvage store has it for like .95¢ per bottle and the expiration date is 2013. YUM!

For some reason the server is rejecting my final picture, which is of a tiny cabinet that my Dh and Ds have munchies & snacks stored in. It's not real large, but it has Ritz Crackers, hot cocoa packets and stuff like that in it.

Feel free to share your stash photos with us. I've not even ventured to take pictures of the freezers yet.......lol. Maybe next week.

Happy frugal cooking this month.

Moe

Pantry Challenge Day 4

I used up some zucchinis, mushrooms, carrots, garlic and chicken (from freezer). I put all that in a pan with some olive oil, cooked it up and sprinkled on a tough of seasoning salt. Went over well and I cleaned out some veggies that I had on hand. I think I will make some brown rice that I have (sitting in the pantry in the far back dark corner!) and add that along with a scrambled egg to last nights leftovers to make a fried rice. YUM!

What have you made?
Moe

Pantry Challenge!!!

How about it?? Anyone game for a pantry challenge? It's easy, before you head to the grocery store, shop your freezer, refrigerator and cabinets to see what you can use up. For the first 3 weeks I try to only buy milk, butter and bread, since I usually have an abundance of canned fruits and veggies on hand. If you don't have chickens you may need to buy eggs  :-p    Make a family game out of this, let the kids pick some can goodies from the cabinet, find some meat in the freezer and go from there.

Feel free to post here and let us know how it's going for you, ask for hints and tips on how to go about doing your pantry challenge. I for one sometimes need some help using up those odd cans of black beans, pinto beans and mole sauce that I bought for some odd reason....lol.

This is a great money saver to start the new year out. I think about many of my readers that are saving to adopt and homeschool moms that are eeking out a tight budget. I hope that this post will be a blessing to your household.

What kind of weird things do you have in your cabinet, freezer or refrigerator that need used up? Use things up before they go bad. Get creative and see what interesting things you can make.

Have a wonderful week!
Moe

Dice Math Games

Thinking of my previous post today about the homeschooling mom and the public school math teacher mom, I found these cool Math dice games over at the home iz cool 101 blog stop by and check her out.

I have some really cool extra sided dice (more than 4 sides), I bought them last year and forgot all about them until I read this blog post. Note to self, STOP BUYING THINGS AND USE WHAT YOU HAVE ON HAND! lol. How many of us have all these school goodies that we bought with high hopes of using them and later find them covered in dust? Shake the dust off your dice and roll into some fun & games this school year!

I can't wait for school to start next week! We love to play games in our school and it's a great way to keep your students interested and make concepts real to them.

Now back to the regularly scheduled program of me working on 6 scrapbooks for tomorrow, our church is hosting a 9/11 memorial service for all our fire, police and ambulance personnel.  I was asked to complete the task of making commemorative scrapbooks for them all. Nothing like the last minute, as my MI buddy would say "If it weren't for last minute, nothing would ever get done."
Turn your life over to Jesus Christ and He will bring you comfort even in all of the ills of this world, including the devastation that 9/11 brought to us.