Thrifty Thursday: Homemade Take 'n Bake Cookies

Next week is Bible School, and of course, we've got to feed the kiddos. I volunteered to provide the snack for three nights of the week. (Our Bible School is small...we're expecting about 50 mouths to feed...that includes the kids and the volunteers.) I needed something I could make ahead and that would make a large quantity, and that could be cooked quickly. This was one of the options I came up with...chocolate chip cookies.

I won't have time to actually bake the cookies before Bible School, because of my crazy work schedule, but I decided that homemade "Take 'n Bake" cookies would work well. Tonight, I made almost 5 dozen cookies, and they're now in David's grandmother's upright freezer, flash-freezing.

That way, they'll all freeze individually, then I can just pop them in a big Ziplock bag and they won't stick together. Devona (the Bible School Snack Czar) can pull them out, stick them on a cookie sheet, and bake them while the kiddos are in class. Then, right before they leave, they can have a warm chocolate chip cookie! I don't buy the "real" Take 'n Bake cookies, because I just like to bake, but I know they're pretty pricey. I think they're about $3.50 for a dozen. I bet I made all 5 dozen of my cookies for that price. Pretty thrifty! I think this is a great idea for a quick dessert to have on hand in your freezer...you know, for those times when you have company stop by unexpectedly, or even more importantly, when you have an attack of the sweet tooth! I've thought many times that I need to make several batches of Dorie's pie crust, just to keep in the freezer. I haven't done it yet, but it's on my to-do list!

Thrifty Thursday: In a Pickle

My little sister, Allison, was definitely "the creative one" between the two of us. She still is. She's always been very artistic, and had the most active imagination as a child. We had a set of those Childcraft books in the house, and Allison's favorite was Make and Do. It was full of little craft projects, and I think she must have done every project in that book at least twice. She was a busy kid. She would go to her room and disappear for hours, and when she came out she had made something fabulous out of junk she found around the house. One of our very favorite stories of Allison's creativity is this: one afternoon, she got a great big box and took it to her room. We figured she'd make something like a playhouse, or a boat, or something. An hour or so later, she emerged from her room, excited and triumphant. In her hands, she held a small box. She was beaming, and she said, "Look Mom! I made a box out of a box!" We love that story. It cracks us all up every time we tell it, which is often.
Today, for Thrifty Thursday, I feel like Allison. I made pickles out of pickles! They start out as regular old dill pickles, and are then transformed into a sort of dill pickle/bread and butter pickle crossbreed. My mother- and father-in-law suggested this to me for Thrifty Thursday a couple of weeks ago (they're a staple at their house), and I initially resisted. I love these pickles, but why would making pickles out of pickles be thrifty?

Generally speaking, I don't like bread and butter pickles. I like dill pickles. Therefore, I only buy dill pickles (David has no real preference, that I've been able to discern). They're pretty cheap. So I asked Shirley, "Why don't you just by bread and butter pickles?!" She looked kind of surprised, and said, "Because they're more expensive." I had no idea. So the next time I was at the grocery, I checked out the pickle situation. Sure enough, the jar of dill pickles above was $1.05. A similar sized jar of bread and butter pickles was nearly $3.00! What the heck is that about? I guess it's the sugar. So I decided that it was time to make pickles out of pickles for Thrifty Thursday.
As you can see in the picture up there, it's really simple. You need the whole kosher dill pickles, a cup of sugar, and some plain white vinegar. Drain the pickle juice, cut up your pickles, mix the sugar and vinegar, add the pickles, and shake. In about two more days, you'll have crunchy homemade bread and butter pickles!

How to Make Pickles Out of Pickles

Earl and Shirley Orr

1 jar whole kosher dill pickles (1 used a 32 oz size)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup distilled white vinegar

Drain all the juice from the pickles. Save the juice to use later for some of the neat ideas from previous Thrifty Thursday posts. Slice your pickles into the size slices you like. (Shirley likes 'em thick, Earl likes 'em thin.) Pour sugar into pickle jar, then add the vinegar. Stir to combine. Add your pickles. Close the lid really tight and shake the jar for about a minute or so. Place the jar upside down in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Take the jar out and shake it up good again, then put it back in the refrigerator right side up for 24 hours. On the third day, enjoy your crunchy new pickles!

An Easy (Healthy!) Snack...

This week, for Thrifty Thursday, I thought I'd share with you one of my new favorite snacks. It's a little weird, I know, but it's good! It's also healthy and cheap!
For my readers who know me personally, over the last year or so, I've lost about 25 pounds (give or take a little...just depending on whether or not Hogatha makes an appearance). In order to lose the weight, I had to make quite a few changes in the things I eat, and I had to commit to regular exercise. I can handle the exercise part without much problem...I like how strong my body feels, and there's a lot of personal satisfaction that comes from being able to run 4 miles or more without stopping. But I LOVE FOOD. I can't think of too many things that I love more than sitting down and enjoying some really good food (which doesn't necessarily mean high-end food, either). I've really had to get used to the idea of moderation, and as I've mentioned in at least one previous post, I had to find ways to feed my cravings that were a little better for me. When I crave a food, it's usually something salty and crunchy. I could eat french fries for every meal, every day. I love a good potato chip...especially salt and vinegar. But you all know that those things aren't that figure-friendly. So what's a girl to do? Enter...

the chickpea! I know...ya'll think I've lost my mind. But just wait...these will be salty, crunchy, yummy...addictive! You need to drain your chickpeas and dry them off pretty well with paper towels. Then, spray your baking sheet (I've found that a stoneware one, like you'd get from The Pampered Chef, gives the best results, but you can use a regular baking sheet, too) with olive oil spray. Spread out your drained chickpeas in a single layer over the baking sheet, then spray them with the olive oil spray, too. Don't drench 'em...just a nice little coat.
The next step is to season them with whatever makes your skirt fly up (as the Pioneer Woman says). Cavender's Greek Seasoning makes my skirt fly up. I put it on EVERYTHING.

Use as much as you want. I love the Greek seasoning, so I give it a pretty liberal dusting. Do what you think is best. Then, I just kind of shake the pan around so they roll around in the olive oil and seasoning. If the seasoning looks skimpy, I might add more. It's a judgement call. Then, you throw them into a 425-degree oven for about 40 minutes (give or take). You're going to have to check on them. You want them to be nice and brown, and crispy-looking. Once they look like they're getting done, eat one. See if it meets your crispyness expectations. I like mine pretty crispy, crunchity. Once they're done, they look like this:
So, now are you wondering what to do with them? I let them cool off completely (still in the single layer on the baking sheet), then I put them in a little plastic container. I just eat them plain, most of the time. They really satisfy a salty, cruncy craving. But I also recently discovered that they are VERY tasty on a salad. Better than a crouton, even!
Yeah, I know...it's strange. But they're really good. They don't cost much to make (so maybe they are thrifty!), and you'll get a good dose of fiber with your snack! If you're feeling adventurous...give them a try!

Thrifty Thursday: Spice Mixes

One night last week, I decided that David and I would have tacos for supper. Tacos are pretty regular in our dinner rotation, because they're quick and easy. They're a filling, no-frills dinner for those nights when you've worked until 7 and you're hungry. I always have a couple of packages of McCormick's taco seasoning mix on hand. I opened the cabinet last week to get out the seasoning mix and...it wasn't there! I was out! I had already browned the ground beef, chopped the onion, fixed up the olives, chopped the lettuce...I was committed to tacos. So what to do?! I made my own taco seasoning! I logged onto Recipezaar, because I knew I could find something there. There were tons of taco seasoning blend recipes there, so I just picked one that had a high rating. In a matter of a minute or two, I had mixed up enough homemade taco seasoning for three or four taco dinners! I must admit, I didn't like it as much as McCormick's, but it was good. I've got it stashed in the cabinet for future emergencies! I've also made my own Greek seasoning blend (it's on the left; the taco seasoning is on the right). Again, it's not as good as the Cavender's blend that I buy (the homemade version is a little heavy on the cinnamon), but it's still good. And I'm always amazed at the quantity of these mixes that I can make with what I have on hand in my spice cabinet. If there's a spice blend that you're tired of paying for, check out Recipezaar, because they've got tons of recipes for any spice blend you can think of!

Thrifty Thursday!

Whew! It's Thursday, and I'm worn out! But I'm here, and ready to tell you all one more way to be thrifty! Now that it's springtime (almost summer!), it's time to get your flowerbeds and gardens ready. Lots of people are dropping lots of cash at nurseries and garden centers. But I'm going to tell you a way to save lots of money in this department, but in order to take advantage of it, you have to have a kind and generous neighbor or family member.

When David and I moved into our house, the flowerbeds were a wreck. The soil wasn't in good shape, and the beds were weedy. We went to work cleaning them up, but David and I are both pretty tight with our money, and we just couldn't bear to spend a ton of money on flowers that were probably just going to die (because I do not have a green thumb). We did buy one flowering cherry tree, but that was about it.

My mom told me that it would be a good idea to plant lots of perennials, so that I wouldn't just be spending money every season on annuals that would only be good for a season. And then, Mom offered to divide some of her plants so that I could get my flowerbeds started! She's a pretty awesome Mom, that's for sure. Here are some pictures:

This one is my favorite. I think it's called cetum. It reminds me of a cactus, but it's not prickly. It's a succulent, I think. And it's hardy. If it ain't hardy, I ain't plantin' it, that's for sure. It just gets bigger and bigger every year!
This is my biggest hosta (please overlook the weeds). Mom gave me five hostas from her plants, and this one is HUGE compared to the others. The funny thing is this: hostas are shade plants, but I didn't know this when I got started with my planting, and I don't have a lot of shade. It got planted in full sun, and it's thriving. To the right there is some kind of a lilly. Mom gave me several lillies, and most of them have done well. I also got two butterfly bushes from her, and they're doing great!
Overall, I've had more luck with the hand-me-down divided plants than with anything else I've planted. I feel like they've kind of proven themselves and they're established, so they're pretty safe bets. I told one of my friends about this a year or so ago, and then she asked her grandmother if she would mind to divide her plants. I know that my Mom doesn't really like for her plants to get really huge, because her beds aren't that big. She seemed to welcome the opportunity to divide them and share them with me. Maybe some of your friends and family wouldn't mind to hook you up with some hardy foliage, as well! It never hurts to ask!

Thrifty Thursday!

Grow your own herbs! This is my third year for having my own little herb garden, and it's gotten better every year. The first year, I was really ambitious and thought I'd start my herb garden from seeds. Forget it. I had ZERO luck with that. Last year, I went to Thieneman's Herbs and Perennials in Louisville and had much better luck. They had pretty much any herb that you could think of (and several that you would never think of!). Last year was also my first year for my multi-tiered self-watering pot that I got from my in-laws (it came from The Red Barn in Bradenton, Florida, which is a super-cool place in its own right...they have an amazing farmer's market!). The combination worked great! I loved having fresh herbs all summer long. It was so nice to just walk out my back door and snip off some basil or rosemary! This year, I couldn't wait to get my herb garden out. I didn't know when I'd get to Thieneman's again, so I had to settle for Lowe's and Wal-Mart. This year, I bought three basil plants, because I use it the most. I'm hoping to have big, hardy basil plants this year, because Chet and I have big plans to make lots of pesto! YUM! I got two rosemary plants and two flat-leaf parsley plants (correction...I bought one rosemary plant...my in-laws bought me a rosemary plant for my birthday, as well). I love rosemary with chicken, and of course, parsley's good in anything! To round out my herb garden, I chose a sage and oregano (because that's really all they had at Lowe's and Wal-Mart). I wish I had a thyme plant, and I've got to rustle up some chives somewhere. I love chives. I tried to grow cilantro last year...no luck. I gave up on it this year.

So why is this thrifty? My local grocery stores (Wal-Mart and Kroger) don't really carry a wide variety of herbs. I can buy big bunches of cilantro for 98 cents, but stuff like basil and rosemary? A tiny little package costs about $2.00. I have about $20 in herbs in the pot you see above. I figure I'll get my money's worth out of it! If I just use them 10 times (oh, but I'll use them much, much more!), I'll have broken even. Very thrifty, indeed!

Thrifty Thursday!

Behold...the banana! In my opinion, nature's perfect fruit. Perfectly portable for a nutritious snack. Loads of potassium, to prevent those pesky leg cramps! A low GI food...perfect for diabetics. And you know those boxes of 100-calorie snacks you can get at the grocery...those little packages of tiny cookies that are really just enough to make you mad, not satisfy a craving? Who needs those, when you've got a banana?! See those bananas up there? Each one of them is just about 100 calories. And you can take it wherever you go! Heck, I tote one to work with me on most days!

I bet you're trying to figure out where I'm going with this. First, bananas are pretty thrifty in and of themselves. You can buy them all day, every day for 50-something cents a pound, and lots of times even cheaper than that! Second, they're really versatile...there's lots you can do with a banana. You can just eat a banana plain for a snack. But there's not much better than a banana slathered in peanut butter. You can slice it on top of your cereal to help get in those 5-9 servings of fruits and veggies you need to stay healthy! Make banana pudding! Slice one and put it in a fruit salad! Take good Jell-O and ruin it by floating banans in it! But here's the best thing of all...wait until they go WAAAAAAAAAY ripe (like almost black), and make the best quick bread in the world...Banana Bread! I'm going to confess something right now that I'm not proud of. I used to throw away over-ripe bananas. You see, David (who is a pickier eater than me, though neither of us is picky at all), won't eat bananas. So I buy a bunch of bananas and always have 2 or 3 that I haven't eaten by the time they reach that point where they're really not fit to eat. And I used to throw them away. What was wrong with me? I don't know what caused it, but one day I had an ephiphany! Freeze the blasted things so you'll always have them ready for banana bread! DUH! So here you go...the thriftiest part of my Thrifty Thursday post:
Now, I'm always ready for banana bread! Or banana pancakes! The possibilities are endless! Since my ephiphany, I've even been known to purposely buy those "Bargain Bananas" at Kroger that are 30 cents a pound (they had some today, but I resisted temptation), because they're in that in-between stage...not good enough to eat plain, but not rotten, either. I buy 'em up, bring 'em home, give 'em a good mash, shove 'em in a bag, and freeze 'em! YUM!

Thrifty Thursday!

It's Thrifty Thursday again! One of the most thrifty things I do is that I cut David's hair. Yes...I cut his hair...with clippers! I can only do one "style" (I use the term loosely) though, but David seems to like it. Shirley, my mother-in-law gave me a hair cutting lesson either right before David and I got married, or right after. I was terrifed (and I still am!) to cut his hair, but so far (about 2 1/2 years now), and we haven't had any real mishaps. One time I did use one clipper that was a little too short, but there was no real harm done. If you've got a willing husband, cutting his hair might be worth a try! It seems like I cut David's hair about twice a month, and I figure it's saving us about $20 each month. Pretty thrifty!

Belated Thrifty Thursday!

Sorry for being late on this week's Thrifty Thursday! I've been out of town for work, then I had today off, so I'm having a hard time keeping up with what day it is! Last night at dinner was when I realized that yesterday was Thursday! Then, by the time I finished up my cake for David's employer's bake sale today, Thrifty Thursday had completely slipped my mind! Anyway, I did have (what I consider to be) a brilliant idea for being thrifty! CONSIGNMENT SHOPS!

About a week ago, I made a pretty big change in my career. I went from providing direct care to adults with MR to working (again!) in higher education (for my alma mater!). In my old job, I wore jeans, t-shirts, tennis shoes, and sweatshirts. I had to be able to move quickly and freely, but I didn't want to wear really nice stuff because I never knew what I might get on myself! In my new job, I need to wear very nice, professional clothes (not quite a suit, but at least nice trousers/shirts/etc.). This career shift coupled with a recent loss of 25 pounds means that I had nice professional clothes to wear, but they didn't fit! I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg on just a few pieces of clothing, so I decided to hit the consignment shop! I think a lot of people don't consider consignment shops because they think of them as just "the Goodwill" or something like that. Now, please understand I'm not knocking the Goodwill! I have found AWESOME clothes at the Goodwill (a super-cute vintage pink shift dress covered in cats and flowers comes to mind!), but it's not a place I can go to and know that I will come out with something fantastic every time. The secret is to shop around at a couple of good consignment stores so you know what's available. I've found one consignment shop that I consider my "go-to" store. It's called the Clothing Boutique in LaGrange. Here's secret #1: go to an "upper crust" neighborhood that has a consignment shop. The Clothing Boutique is in Oldham County, Kentucky's richest county. There are incredible deals. A few things I've found: a silk skirt from Talbot's ($10.50), a black pencil skirt from New York and Company ($10.50), black trousers ($11.00)...the list goes on! I love to look nice, but I hate to spend money! The consignment shop is my thrifty secret to looking like a well-dressed professional! Take some time and check out your local consignment stores (and don't forget the Goodwill!)...you'll be pleasantly surprised with what you find!