Bread Baking & Yard Raking

The weather this week has been glorious here in Southern Ontario. We've gotten an early reprieve from winter with a very welcome heat wave. I've been spending as much time as possible outside, since I know it won't last. It's entirely possible that we'll still see some snow again next week!

Yesterday I took advantage of the lovely weather to do the Big Bad Spring Cleanup. The one where I find out exactly how much dog poop was hiding under all that snow (the answer is always the same: way more than I want to think about!) I found a total of TEN tennis balls as I was making my way around the yard, picking up the poop and the garbage and all the little toys that seem to be there every spring, no matter how hard I try to get the yard cleaned up in the fall!

I started taking the leave mulch off the garden beds, too - the strawberry plants are already growing! I don't see any signs of rhubarb poking its way up yet. I'm hoping the rhubarb will really kick in this year (second full growing season since planting) and that I'll have enough to freeze some for the colder months.

Bread baking was also on yesterday's schedule; I used my tried and true Whole Wheat Refrigerator Dough and did one loaf plain and one loaf fancy. There's about 1/2 of the second loaf left; bread doesn't have much chance to go stale around here!

Our house-wide decluttering project slowed down for a while but we're still working away at it. I spent some time helping my dh wrestle the junk in the basement - there's a lot more to go but it already looks a lot less scary than when we started.

Next up: continue the decluttering, deal with my mending pile, and start getting ready for Easter!

A Housewarming Gift Basket

I'm a big fan of gift baskets - both giving and receiving them. When done well, I don't think there are many gifts I enjoy opening more. I love giving them because they lend themselves to so many creative possibilities. I usually decide on a particular theme for my basket then let inspiration guide me from there. Most of the time my baskets are a mix of homemade gifts, second hand treasures, and the odd new purchase just to round things out. I love the fact that I can put together a really great gift basket at just a tiny fraction of the cost of a store bought one, and usually the quality is far better. It also allows me to personalize it specifically for the person I'm giving it to, which you can't do with an off-the-shelf basket!

Although I've been giving gift baskets for many years, it didn't occur to me until now that I could make the baskets my husband gives to his clients. He's a realtor and giving your clients a gift is standard practice for his industry. He had been buying gift baskets at a neighbourhood store, and while they were nicely done up and he was supporting a locally owned business, there wasn't really a lot in there for the price he was paying. So I decided to take a shot at it myself.

In this case, I didn't know much about the couple I was making the basket for, except that they were a young couple that had just moved into a really cool old (century plus) home. I decided to go with a "clean kitchen" theme, with items that almost anyone would find useful. My husband was pretty sure the kitchen was blue and white so I tried to incorporate those colours as well.

Here's everything I put in the basket:

For the "basket" itself I used a tin pail. I like to use a container that can be easily recycled or repurposed and I love these tin pails for their versatility. They can be put to use in almost any room of the house - for holding washcloths in the bathroom, potted plants in the living room, stationery supplies in the office, dinky cars in a kids' room...endless possibilities!

To fill the pail:
-2 knitted dishcloths
-fridge memo pad (not quite in keeping with the "clean" theme but I thought it was a cute little extra!)
-cute kitchen scrub brushes in a colour to match their kitchen
-handsoap
-homemade herbal degreaser in a spray bottle (recipe in The Naturally Clean Home) and lemon scouring powder (made by mixing baking soda with a few drops of lemon essential oil)

The finished product looked like this:

I was quite pleased with the results and I had lots of fun with this "theme". It would be perfect for a bridal shower as well. The total cost was about half of what my hubby usually spends for a gift basket and I think it turned out a lot nicer, too!

A Successful Soup Experiment

There's nothing "new" about making soup from leftovers; that's Standard Operating Procedure for any frugalista. Soup usually makes its way onto our menu at least once a week because it is so accommodating. However, this week's creation was a bit different from my usual and I wasn't entirely sure if it was going to work out! I had the clever idea to use all the leftovers from our Sunday ham dinner to make a ham, cheese and potato chowder.

I'm happy to report that the end result was quite satisfying (I admit I breathed a sigh of relief when both boys dug in and pronounced it edible!)

Here's how I made it (to the best of my memory):

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp butter
leftover twice-baked potato casserole (about 2 cups worth)
about 2 cups of milk
leftover cooked peas and carrots (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 smallish slices leftover ham, diced
1 tsp each salt and pepper
about 3/4 cup grated cheddar

In a large saucepan, saute the onion and garlic in the butter until tender. Add the mashed potatoes and milk and whisk together until smooth. Add vegetables, ham, salt and pepper and cheese and cook until hot and bubbly. Add more milk as needed to adjust the soup's consistency.

A Sure Sign of Spring - the Declutter-a-thon Has Begun!

For me, one of the surest signs that spring is on its way is that I get the "urge to purge". At the beginning of the new year, my hubby and I committed to holding a yard sale this year. We haven't had one for a few years, so I figured we'd have enough stuff that we were ready to part with to hold a worthwhile sale. I don't have pack rat tendencies and I give no-longer-needed items away several times per year through freecycle and charitable donations. I have to admit, though, that it's been a few years since I systematically went through every room in the house and gave it an intense sorting and decluttering.

I started this week with the boys' bedroom, plus the main bookcases in our living room. So far the boys and I have spent two afternoons going through their toys and books. I was shocked by how many items were either ready to be passed on, or just plain old garbage. It also began to sink in for me at a deep level that there are certain stages of childhood that are clearly behind us now, as I tossed all the Franklin and Robert Munsch books into the yard sale pile. My boys are entering tween/teendom and most things that have any hint of "little kidishness" they are ready to part with!

I filled another box with adult books that I'm ready to part with - books are one of the few things that I have a *really* hard time letting go of, but I know the time has come to cull the collection and make way for some new treasures.

The photo above shows our rapidly growing pile of yard sale items - and I still have several rooms to go, plus the second floor linen closet, the storage closet in our attic bedroom, and the (dreaded) basement.

Although decluttering can get pretty intense, the end result - a neat, well organized home filled with only the items you truly need and want - makes it so worthwhile. I am always amazed at the little treasures I find that I totally forgot I had; they are often the perfect finishing touches to embellish a craft project or add that special something to the corner of a room.

"Good Enough" Solutions

One of the basic principles of frugality is to anticipate your needs well in advance, so you have lots of time to come up with inexpensive ways to meet them, thus eliminating emergency trips to retail stores to buy things at full price.

Generally I'm pretty good at this; however I've recently noticed an area where I've had a bit of a blind spot for some time: our bed linens! Back in the fall, as I was putting away the spring/summer sheet set and breaking out the winter flannels, I noticed how worn out it was looking in the middle (highest wear area). I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, as we bought this set with wedding gift money 14 1/2 yrs ago! That it's survived this long is a testimony to investing in a good quality set, and caring for it gently (line drying goes a long way towards preserving fabric life).

Fast forward a few months to the beginning of the new year, when all of a sudden there was a rather sizable hole in the middle of our flannel fitted sheet. Yikes! This set is nowhere near as old as the spring/summer set, but because flannel is so much softer it tends to wear out a lot more quickly. Once again, I hadn't been paying close attention to the wear in the middle of the sheets as I was remaking the bed. Unfortunately, after I'd spent a decent amount of time stitching up the hole, I suddenly noticed how worn out the surrounding areas were, and that a couple of other holes were starting to form. Yes, I know, it would have been a great idea to inspect the sheet more closely *before* I started the repair job - lesson learned for next time!

Since I didn't do a good job with anticipating our needs with respect to our linens, I'm now in a situation where I could really use 2 new sets, and not much wiggle room in our budget for miscellaneous household expenses. If I had anticipated this need and had some money set aside, this would be the perfect time of year to score a great deal on new, good quality bedding as many retailers have them on sale for 40-50% off or more right now. However, this isn't a good option for us with our current budget. I also don't want to go out and buy cheap sheets that will need replacing in a year or two. So, what is the next best solution in this situation?

I'd say it's "see how creative you can be with what you already have". After rummaging through our linen closet, I discovered that I'd had the foresight to hang on to the flat sheet from our last set of flannels (the fitted sheets wear out *so* much faster!). It was still in very good condition. Since we've maintained the same colour scheme for our bedding throughout our married life, it even coordinates nicely with our current set. I had what I thought was a real "brain wave": to use a flat sheet in place of the fitted sheet - I figured if I tucked it in snugly enough it should do the trick. I have been pleasantly surprised that it has done the job just fine; in fact it doesn't "migrate" any more than the fitted sheet did. Here I thought I was being so clever, then I happened to read that it was standard practice to use flat sheets in this manner until fairly recent times since fitted sheets haven't always been around. After I read that I felt kind of silly; of course they would have been a relatively recent "invention" but they are something that is now perceived as a "must have" item.

This "good enough" solution led me to make a couple of useful observations. One advantage of using a flat sheet in place of a fitted, is that you can alternate your flat sheets in the "fitted sheet" role so that they wear evenly, thus prolonging the life of your sheet sets. I will also be much more quick to snap up random flat sheets on my thrifting adventures, knowing they can be used in this manner.

I did end up with some good thrifting karma at Value Village and scored this lovely hunter green and cream striped set (fitted & flat sheets) in barely-used condition:


They were $4.99 per sheet, a good deal for a gently used, reasonable quality set.

Since my ruined flannel sheet is mostly worn out in the middle, there is still quite a bit of useable fabric along the sides. I plan to use it to make some homemade menstrual pads (I've been meaning to give this a shot for a while and never quite gotten around to it). Other ways this fabric could be used would be to make a beanbag set for kids, or a soothing eye pillow. If the good pieces of fabric were large enough, a new set of pillowcases is another possibility. A complete sheet set might yield enough fabric to knit a small throw rug.

Another useful tip I picked up: a king or queen sized sheet can be cut down the middle and hemmed to make 2 twin sheets. I've always ignored the larger sized sheets since we have a double bed, but I'm going to check them out on a regular basis now, since I could use them to make matching sheets for my boys' bunk beds!

I'd love to hear other thoughts on how to make the most out of what's in the linen closet.

RECIPE:Turkey Pot Pie

On Sundays we generally have a proper "Sunday dinner", a special meal that takes a bit more effort than I'd go to on a weekday. We also break out the good silver (a family heirloom) and even flowers and candles on occasion.

Digging around in the freezer earlier in the week, I'd realized that I still had 3 meals left of diced turkey from the Christmas bird, and Easter (and more turkey leftovers) is not that far off. So I decided on the following menu:

Turkey Potpie
Mashed potatoes with gravy (gravy from freezer stash)
Green beans

Butterscotch pudding (I used a recipe from Gourmet magazine, but I found it over-set and had a jelly-like consistency; I think I'll try this one next time)

We were recently gifted a batch of brew-your-own-wine, so there was wine to go with dinner as well!Turkey Potpie
If you have leftover veggies in the fridge that need to be used up, substitute them for all or part of the vegetables called for in the recipe (you want about 3 cups of veggies total). I had about 1/3 of a loaf of refrigerator bread dough sitting in the fridge and decided to use it for the topping in place of my usual pastry crust.

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
2 cups chopped leftover turkey

Sauce:
1 1/2 cups milk (I use reconstituted skim milk powder)
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp dried parsley

Topping:
1 pie crust worth of pastry, biscuit or bread topping as desired (use what you've got!)

In large frying pan, saute onions, garlic and carrot in olive oil until carrots start to soften. Add peas, corn and turkey and cook over medium heat until heated through (add a bit of water to the pan if mixture starts to dry out).

Meanwhile, make the sauce. In a small saucepan, whisk the cornstarch into the cold milk until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and cook over med-low heat until mixture thickens.

Pour the sauce over the turkey mixture and stir until well combined. Pour into a glass lasagna dish and top with pie crust, biscuit dough or bread dough, as desired.

Bake at 375F for about 20-25 min or until hot and bubbly and crust is golden brown.

I shared this recipe at Friday Favorites.

A Fresh Start with a Familiar Topic

I've been writing about frugality and simple living on and off for almost a decade (granted, it's been more "off" than "on" for the last year or two). In the early 2000s, I wrote and published a print newsletter called Keep It Simple, devoted to examining all aspects of what it means to live a simpler life. More recently, I shared my musings on frugal living on two different blogs (Frugal is as Frugal Does and The Speeding Kitchen, a frugal food blog).

Although I stopped actively writing about living a frugal, simple life for the past couple of years, I've still been doing it, and I've been inspired to begin sharing my experiences and ideas again. Thus, this blog was born. I wanted to make sure my previous blog writings weren't lost, so I have imported them here for future reference (those are the entries dated between 2006 and 2008).

So, as we edge slowly towards spring here in Southern Ontario, I am looking forward to a fresh new beginning exploring the very familiar topic of frugal living. I hope you'll join me!

Image courtesy of Dan/freedigitalphotos.net