Kt.log

Last night, on the evening of pantry challenge day 11, I made my first ever frittata.

I know, I know. Hold the applause. It was one if the easier new recipes I’ve tried. I had to figure out if any of the skillets I have are oven safe. Turns out that both my 10″ skillets are, one to 350• and my bright orange Rachael Ray one to 400•. Since the recipe called for the frittta to be baked at 400•, I used the orange one.

The recipe went really smoothly. The potatoes and onions browned nicely, I didn’t spill any of the egg mix while transfering the pan to the oven. And then, I took it out. It was beautiful (as beautiful as food can be). Stupidly, or just not thinking at the moment, I grabbed the handle of the pan to keep it from sliding on the stove. It was HOT! I burned a lovely circle in the palm of my left hand. Through the pain and then the icy stabs of really cold water, I realized that it could be worse. I could have burned my right hand and then really been up a creek.

I will be repeating this recipe, all except the burning part.

We are more than a week into our month-long pantry challenge. The menu hasn’t been too varied this week compared to our normal fare but I’m sure that will change as the month goes on.

The most interesting thing we’ve had to do so far is to dip into our supply of dry milk that I bought long ago for “emergencies.” Normally, I wouldn’t think anything of stopping at the store after work to pick of a gallon of milk if we had ran out but this week, we’ve already spent as much money as we’re allowed. So far, we made mac and cheese and tomato soup with the dry milk. The soup was just as good as normal. The mac and cheese was so-so. I don’t know if it was the milk or the slightly overcooked noodles.

For groceries this week, I spent $5.92 on (4) cans of tomato soup, (1) can of Select harvest soup, (1) box of Mrs. Grass’s soup, 1 lb of romaine for a dinner with friends on Tuesday, conditioner for a curly haired someone and a CHEAP bottle of flavored coffee creamer. Not too shabby. Next week we need milk, block cheese and bread. That might be all we have money to spend on.

Happy weekend!

I really, really want to grocery shopping! I actually enjoy doing it and it’s hard not to stop at the store when I know things we eat are on sale. It was made even harder by the Sunday paper deities decided to bless me with five. coupon. inserts!

Five!

Tonight we ate chicken nuggets and french fries for dinner. It’s healthy because the nuggets are breaded in whole wheat. That’s healthy, right?

This challenge couldn’t have come at a better time. We had yet another car expense to pay today that wasn’t planned for and after the mortgage check cleared, we were down to the smallest amount of money I think we’ve ever had in our bank account since we got married.

I keep reminding myself of the verse Ed Dobson spoke about in church on Sunday: “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

I spend too much time thinking about how things will work out tomorrow, what else will cost us more money that we were trying to save. Sometimes it feels like we’ll never reach our long term goals because we keep getting kicked while we’re already down. All I can do is try to thank God we have enough to get us by today and remember that today is enough for me. He’ll take care of my tomorrows.

We soon discovered that since I have switched grocery shopping habits from buying what we needed to hardcore couponing, we had more food that two people could eat in many, many months. Our kitchen pantry is stocked; our downstairs storage is… overflowing.

(Enter the Eat-Out-of-the-Pantry Challenge)

Money Saving Mom and Fishmama have offered up the challenge of eating out of the pantry for the month of January. There are many reasons to do it so they encourage each participant to create her own goals best tailored to fit the needs of her family. Since we have so many different types of food stored away and an extra tight budget this month due to unexpected car repairs etc, I have based our family’s goals on those two things.

- Develop weekly meal plans around the abundance of food already in the house including ground beef, pasta, frozen veggies, and some forgotten items pushed to the back of the freezer.

- Purchase ONLY the necessary produce and fresh dairy items for less than $25 for the month. The remainder of our $200 grocery budget will go toward paying off the car repair bill.

There is a little leeway in the spending goal simply because the grocery budget also encompasses household paper products and toiletries and there are some things our family seems to always be short on like conditioner for a certain curly haired someone. Even so, I feel like $25 is a reasonable figure considering the amount of fresh veggies and fruit we eat during the winter.

I hope to be documenting this whole experience here on the blog so I can share any success (yay!) or failure (boo!) with you.

Questions?

I think I am a little obsessive over paperclips. They can’t be bent or rusty. I use small ones all morning and only large ones in the afternoon.

Perhaps a lot obsessive?

One thing I’ve heard from my friends (and myself) often is that we don’t see each other enough. We live only a few miles from each other and yet go weeks and sometimes months between seeing each other. Is this a part of growing up? We’ve all got more responsibility than we did in college but life is that much harder without each other.

I don’t think I’m ready to grow up yet.

We put up our Christmas tree today! You might think today was early but really, I’ve been asking Brian if we could get it out since before Halloween. There is something about a brilliantly lit tree in the living room that makes me want to stay home more often. The kitties were pretty excited; they love laying underneath, staring at the branches. They didn’t try to climb it last year but Squints is pretty adventurous now that he’s gotten older.

As soon as the Christmas tree arrives in our house, my excitement for Thanksgiving and Christmas just grows. This year, like every year it seems, money is tight and we’re carefully sticking to our gift budget by bargain hunting (don’t forget the clearance aisle), homemaking gifts for those who will appreciate it and plain creativity. The gifts we’ve gotten for Kellie, my youngest sister, is a good example of all of those. I found a tutorial online to make curly barrettes out of ribbon laying around the house. I made three sets: teal, sheer purple and cream, and pink and white checked. She is also getting toys bought on the after-Halloween clearance aisle. One of them, a Halloween Mr. Potato Head that she enjoys playing with at our house, I had a coupon for $2 off so I only paid $1.50 for a toy I know she’ll love.

After once again being inspired to write in this thing by my more talented friends and role models, I will attempt to quickly explain what has happened in our lives over the past 12 months.

• Brian’s been working a lot for www.seedplanted.org and His House
• I’ve been working a lot, still at Network180. Great job, still challenging.
• We bought a house in Grandville. It’s adorable and we love it.
• Trying to figure out how planning for the future fits into the present
• We’re still caring for and working with local college students in His House Christian Fellowship

Trying to explain all that has happened over the past year would be like trying to explain to a 3 year old what causes chicken pox. It’s all a bit overwhelming and staggering.

Above all, God has been good and hasn’t let us down. Through all the uncertainty that life can bring, He’s held us together and we’re growing into a stronger family (kitties and all!).

Now, like the (responsible) person I am, I’m off to bed.

It’s been a loooong time since I’ve posted anything.

I had to share with someone what fantastic deals that I got today at Target. Today is the best day to buy candy all-year-long. Yup, day after Halloween. I bought about 20 lbs of candy (almost not an exaggeration) all for 50% off, bounty napkins (200 for $1.50), tealight candles, two packs of catnip sticks for $2.50 each (the kitties went NUTS), Glad containers- small and large for $1.50 each, a Halloween Mr. Potato head for $2.50, a bag of small play-do containers, cat treats ($2.50 for 4 bags and there was a $2 coupon inside), plastic zip top bags, and a pez despenser.

It was a good morning!