Sugar & Spice & every thing nice

My frugal gal friends have given me a tip about Penzeys.com a wonderful looking spice company. They have a very nice catalog that you can request, they have coupons and specials. They also have retail stores, none near me, but you might look them up. The catalog is not just a selling point for their products, it contains readers stories and recipes. It's well worth requesting.
I have not ordered from them as of yet, spoke with a helpful customer service rep today regarding gluten/corn in their products and I was referred to an email address. So I am waiting to hear back from them.

I cooked up one of the recipes Classic Saffron Rice and it was WONDERFUL! I used some ground Saffron that I got from a friend that went on a missions trip down to Grenada, I plan to take her a bowl of it to sample when I see her tomorrow. Everyone here liked, had a nice mild flavor, next time I think I will add a touch more. The recipe can be found in the latest edition Spring 2012 catalog. I don't have permission to post the recipe, so just call or email them and ask for a catalog. The issue that I got offers a coupon $5.00 off a purchase of $10.00 or more! I plan on using that if I get good news on the products not containing corn/gluten.

Recipes can be found here for many yummy looking dishes.

Please let my readers know if you have ever bought anything from Penzeys Spices.

Thanks & Bon Appétit,
Moe

Pantry Challenge January Round Up

Let me count the ways that I bombed this past month in the Pantry Challenge.....lol. But I had fun and hope you did too.

For starters DO NOT EVER shop for groceries after being under anesthetic..lol. I felt so well after my upper and lower scopes that we decided to shop at Meijers (remember I love that place!), I wandered through and blew a cool $50 some odd dollars, can't find the receipt now. Got some wonderful produce (did I ever tell you how I just love Meijers produce? I think it's the lighting!).
My dear husband pushed the cart dutifully up and down the isles for me as I plucked things off the shelf (who knows what!) and dropped them into the cart. What on earth was I thinking? That is right I was not in my right mind and what did that paper say that I signed before surgery? "I will not make any financial decisions for 24 hours." I wonder now, does grocery shopping fall under that category? I think so! That brings me up to $122.09 for the month.

Then another $49.56 at the local grocery store this was sort of a woe is me shopping trip, I had to do the prep for my upper/lower scopes (drink the nasty stuff to clean your insides out) and I wanted to treat myself, so I bought my favorite soda Canada Dry, my favorite kool-aid drink TANG, the good ice pops (not those nasty cheap watered down ice pops......lol). Since I knew once the tests were done I would be back on a gluten free diet, I got some Lenders Bagels and Thomason English Muffins, no generics for me on those! I also bought the good juices to drink during my prep time, nothing like Welches White Grape Juice $4.50 a bottle and Mango Peach Juice. Those items added up very quickly. $171.65 for the month.

Then on 1/30/12 I ran to the store real quick like for milk & chicken (remember I did not want to butcher our laying hens so I had to buy chicken)........that cost me $23.76.
They had milk on sale for $1.50 so bought a few of those,
Cannelli Beans on sale for $1.00 a can, I stocked up on those since I can sneak them into a lot of things..lol
Tyson Chicken was on sale for $1.99 lb.

January 2012 cost us $195.41 for three people, doing homeschool math that comes to an average of $65.14 per person for a month or an average of $48.85 per week. I was hoping for less, but I know that I could have done without the $50 bucks spent on surgery day, I am still kicking myself for that one! I am thankful for what I saved and did not spend with being gluten and dairy free, I could have spent a lot more $$ on fancy products.

How is your February going on the pantry challenge? I am going to just keep on going with it and see where it leads me. Remember if you are not gluten free or dairy free you can still use my recipes (comment if you have questions about them), just use whole wheat or white flour and regular dairy and butter in the recipes.

If you are new around here we are having a Pantry Challenge, here is how it works.........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.
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

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

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

How I spent my day.

I spent the day wrapping Christmas gifts......lol

Yes, I like to get an early start. I shop all year long and get goodies as I see them on sale or if someone comments that they like this or that.

Now off to hide them somewhere.

Got any good holiday gift tips for us?

I like to get things wrapped early and make a list as I go, so I know who I have bought for and what they are getting. That way if I find any extra I can decide if they get the gift this year or next year. Also helps me to keep track of extra things I have on hand for 'service people' that I like to give a little something for the holidays (postman, trash man).

Don't feel bad if you have not done your Christmas shopping yet or even started wrapping gifts yet, because I can almost bet that your Christmas tree will be up and decorated BEFORE mine will. You see, I have to badger my husband into going into the attic to get mine down. He is a firm believer that the tree goes up on Christmas Eve and comes down by New Years Day! LOL.......

I like to start my Christmas preparations early in the season so that I can relax and enjoy the true meaning of the holiday season without driving myself crazy. Remember even now that

Jesus Is The Reason For The Season.