Grocery Shopping In Your Own Kitchen

I'm having one of those weeks right now where I don't feel at all like going grocery shopping. My husband is out of town and it is the first time he's been gone since we adopted our three oldest kids. So, let's just say that their behavior has not been, um, up to par while Daddy is away. Anyway, it's on weeks like this one, or weeks when the budget is a bit tighter than usual that I employ a technique I call "shopping the pantry."

Before I had four kids, I regularly spent time with a wonderful, very wise woman from our church. She has grown kids and really exemplifies the Proverbs 31 woman. She taught me a lot of things, and the idea of "shopping my pantry" was one of them. I was so blown away by such a simple idea, and I wondered why I hadn't thought of it before. So, this post it to pass along what I learned just in case you, like me, have never heard about this before.

The idea of shopping your pantry is basically the idea of keeping inventory of everything you have in your pantry--and your freezer and refrigerator. I don't keep a written inventory of any of those things, but I generally have a fairly good mental inventory. But, sometimes things get pushed to the back of the fridge and get forgotten until they start to smell. And then other times, you end up with only 1/4 of a bag of frozen green beans, and 1/2 bag of blueberries, etc.

So, on weeks that you want to "shop your pantry," here is what you do:

First, go through your freezer, fridge, and pantry and make a detailed inventory of everything you have that is a food item--including condiments, oils, etc. Write down what it is and how much you have of it. This can be a bit time consuming, I admit. I think that's why some people choose to keep a running inventory of everything they have in their kitchen so they can skip that step.

After you've made your lists, look and see what recipes you can make with those items. Yes, we've all stared into our fridge and asked ourselves what we can make for dinner. But the idea of shopping your fridge is to figure out how many meals you can get out of the stuff in your freezer, fridge, and pantry. Can you feed your family until the next shopping trip? Now is the time to get the creative juices flowing! As you come up with recipes to make with what you have, cross off the items on your list as you use them. On a separate sheet of paper, write down the meals you have planned and the ingredients needed to prepare them. That way you won't forget what's on the menu.

You may find yourself with a lot of random ingredients that leave you wondering if there is anything you could possibly prepare with them. This is where the internet can be quite handy. You can search recipes to get some great ideas. There's also a website that is perfect for a situation like this. It's called Supercook.com, and you enter all the ingredients you have and it will bring up recipes that use those ingredients. So, esentially, it's kind of like a reverse recipe search.

After you have made your menu and have chosen your recipes, you may still need to go to the store, but your grocery list will be a lot smaller! So it's perfect for days when you need to keep the budget small, or you don't want to be walking up and down endless aisles at the store with a bunch of little ones in tow. <------ That's me!

This is such a simple and easy way to save money and cut down wasted and spoiled food. I would guess that a lot of my readers already know about this concept, but I just wanted to share this idea anyway because it has really been such a huge help for me. And it's a great way to be a better steward in the kitchen.

Do you like to shop your pantry? If so, what do you do to stay organized? Do any of my readers keep a running written inventory of their kitchen?

The Wonders of Vodka

When you think about vodka, what comes to your mind? I can think of several things. But a few months ago, I started thinking about vodka in a whole new way...as a wonderful household cleaner! It turns out that vodka makes a magnificent multipurpose cleaner.

I originally set out to buy vodka to clean my kids' bath toys. They had started to get that scummy build up on them, and I was looking for a good way to get it off and disinfect them. Most people told me to just soak them in a bath of bleach water, but since I don't even allow bleach in my house (that's a different story, though), I knew that wasn't going to work. Not to mention, bleach can leave an unsafe residue, and since a couple of my children are still in the put-everything-in-the-mouth phase of life, I didn't want any harmful residue.

Then one day I stumbled upon an article that suggested cleaning kids' toys with vodka. Afterall, it's non-staining, low odor, and the high alcohol level makes it a good disinfectant. Not to mention, it deoderizes well. And, any residue left on the toys would be harmless since ethyl alcohol is consumable by humans. Side note: I've had a lot of people ask me, "Why don't you just use rubbing alcohol to clean the toys?" Yes, rubbing/isopropyl alcohol is much cheaper, however, it not meant to be ingested, and since my kids still put things in their mouths, we're back to the same problem as bleach. Not to mention, the strength of the isopropyl alcohol can make it quite damaging to some surfaces.

So, I set out to clean my kids' bath toys with vodka. It did a very nice job, too. I had a ton of vodka leftover, so I decided to try cleaning other things with it. I didn't want to walk around the house with a bottle of Smirnoff in my cleaning kit, so I poured it into a new spray bottle. With the vodka, I can clean a lot of things at one time. In the bathroom, for example, I can clean the mirrors (because alcohol evaporates quickly and cuts the grime, it makes a great mirror cleaner!), then I can spray down the sink and faucet. We have corian countertops throughout our house, and this type of surface is notorious for streaking. So the vodka cleans them up without streaking, and does a great job of getting up the dried globs of toothpaste out of my kids' sinks. The faucets are shiny and germ free as well. Then you can wipe down the toilet with vodka, which kills germs and deoderizes as well.

I've used the vodka for some little, random jobs as well. We have a lot of windows in our house, and I've found that a little squirt of vodka on the windows does a great job at keeping them finger print free. I have also found that soaking toothbrush heads in the vodka (and then rinsing!) is a good way to keep them clean--especially after sickness in the house. If I get something hard or gooey on the tile floor, I will spray it with the vodka and let it sit, then it will come right up when I mop.

The best thing of all is that it is a very cheap way to clean. You don't have to worry about flavor if you're just using it to clean, so the cheapest kind will do. And I got a big bottle back in October, I believe, and I still have some left. A little goes a long way. I have really loved using other natural cleaners and homemade cleaners, but the thing I love about the vodka is that it is very simple--no mixing needed.

Have you ever tried cleaning with vodka? If not, is this something you'd try?

Cowboy Casserole

I've always loved cooking with my crockpot because it's so quick and easy, and you get to actually sit down and enjoy dinner without wearing yourself out or dirtying every dish in the house! But my 3 qt. crockpot has just not been big enough to feed my family, so most crockpot meals have kind of been put aside lately. But my sweet hubby surprised me with a crockpot for Valentine's Day! (Before anyone gets upset that he didn't give me flowers or candies to celebrate, don't worry....I have always much preferred practical gifts! So I was super excited!) He bought me a big 6 qt. model, so now I have enough room to feed the family and have leftovers. In fact, I was just eating some of last night's leftovers, and I was thinking that I really needed to share the recipe since it was so good and nutritious!

I guess I would call this meal Cowboy Casserole, but it is modified from other recipes I've seen to pack more nutritional punch. Traditional Cowboy Casserole has white potatoes, but I made mine with sweet potatoes instead, and it was super yummy.

So, here's my easy, quick recipe for healthy crockpot Cowboy Casserole. This recipe makes about 8 servings.

1 lb. ground beef or buffalo (grass fed if available. We like to eat buffalo meat, too)

3 sweet potatoes, sliced

1 lb. black beans, cooked (or you could use a can)

1 lb. pinto beans, cooked (again, you could use canned)

1 can Rotel

1 onion, chopped (I actually used powdered onion because my husband and kids don't like onion texture)

Salt and pepper to taste

Brown the ground beef, and salt and pepper. In crockpot, pile the sliced sweet potatoes and chopped onions on the bottom. Pour both kinds of beans (drained!) over the potatoes. Put the meat on top of the beans. Pour the Rotel over the top of everything. Cook on high for about 6 hours, until the potatoes and onions are tender.

And as I can personally attest to, this makes very yummy next day leftovers as well! :)

I hope you will enjoy this nutritious and very satisfying meal...perfect for a cold winter's dinner!

Get Ready For Valentine's Day!!

Note: The contest has been closed now, but you are still welcome to download the goody I have for you at the end of this post! :)

Hi there digital scrapbooking friends! Welcome to my blog! If you've arrived here because you are following the My Memories Suite blog train, please remember to look for the "hidden" word in this post (seriously, folks, it's not hard!). And then after you've finished reading here, move on to the next stop. Once you've gathered all the words, please follow the initial instructions and email the words to enter to win a free copy of MMS v. 2.0 and some other goodies! Good luck!

I wanted to share one of my favorite new features in My Memories Suite 2.0--the shape tool. In the first version of MMS, there was a shape tool and you could choose solid colors. But in the new MMS, you can make a plethora of shapes, including frames, circles, stars, and scalloped edges. AND, while you can still do solid colors, the new version allows you to very quickly use your background papers to create the shapes as well. I love it! It's super easy, too.

To use this tool, simply go to the background papers tab in the right-hand menu as you normally would. Then select the template paper you would like to use for your shape. All you have to do is press the button in the bottom left corner of the screen that says "Add as shape object." It will bring up all your shape choices. Choose the shape you want and voila! You have the shape on your page.

One thing that I really appreciate about this tool is that once it has created the shape on your page, you can stretch it in one direction and the paper pattern will not get distorted, as it keeps its proportions. To add a shadow to your newly created paper shape (you know you want to!), just go to the shape tab in the right-hand menu and choose "shadow."

So, creating a paper shape is a super easy way to add a bit of extra flair to your designs. There are so many possibilities, from layering to creating frames. It's really a great addition to the new version. As you see in the scrapbook layout above, and using StoryRock's "Cross My Heart" pack, I have used paper shapes to create frames for my pictures as well as layering to add some texture in the background, and it took no time at all. That's what got me hooked on My Memories Suite to begin with...it's just so easy!

And now for a giveaway:

To thank you for visiting my blog today and to get you ready for Valentine's Day, I have a special "treat" for you. I've designed a Valentine's themed candy bar wrapper. It'll be the right size for a 1.55 oz. Hershey style candy bar, so print it off and give it to that special someone in your life! (Or you can make yourself some pretty chocolates to eat while you are scrapbooking!) To print the file, simply click on the photo to open the full sized photo. Then save to your computer and use it to print.

Like the elements I used for the candy bar wrapper? I used the Simply Joy and Whoo Loves You elements, available at the MMS store. The adorable fonts are from kevinandamanda.com.

Now, for your next stop on this blog train, please visit Brooke's blog here.

What are you going to do with all those Christmas pictures?

(you can click this photo to see what a layout looks like full size)

If you're like me, you probably took tons of pictures of your family over Christmas break! I love capturing the faces of my kids when they open a gift that I worked long and hard to make. Plus, my kids are a lot more willing to sit still for pictures during Christmas...I don't know why. I think maybe they sense that it's more important during big holidays. Plus, this year, we had a Christmas blizzard, so I got the unexpected pleasure of taking pictures of my kids playing in the huge snow drifts. Needless to say, I have a ton of photos from Christmas.

My (unofficial) New Year's resolution has been to work on being more organized and efficient in every area of life. So I figured, why not apply it to my photos? Instead of letting my photos sit around on the computer (or worse, on the camera!) until I can hardly remember them, I'm going create scrapbook pages for them immediately. I guess this is one of the wonderful things about the world of digital scrapping because it only takes a short time commitment to make a few layouts. (And if you're really low on time or inspiration, you can buy premade layouts and just drag and drop your photos in and be done!) So that's what I want to do this year...scrapbook as I take the pictures. It'll definitely be better than what I did last year--wait til the end of the year to do most of the scrapbooking and then not really finish in time.

So, what are you going to do with all those precious photos from your Christmas?

Giveaway

I don't usually do this, but I want to tell you about a giveaway on another blog I follow. The giveaway is just too good to not pass it along to all of my readers. By entering this giveaway, you'll win a year's membership to a website called List PlanIt, which pretty much has any list you can imagine available for printing and download. What a wonderful way to start off an organized 2010. So head on over to Stephanie's blog, read about the giveaway, and get yourself signed up!

Christmas Traditions

Can I just say that I love, love, love this time of year?! Each year when summer ends, I keep thinking that fall is my favorite time of year, but then Christmas rolls around, and I remember that I actually like Christmas more! I just love driving around neighborhoods looking at Christmas lights (and I love how my kids are in awe of light displays!), and I love the smell of Christmas with cinnamon and baked goods. I love being able to see my breath outside, and I love snuggling up with a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate. There's something that is so relaxing and peaceful about this time of year.

You may be reading that previous sentence and be thinking, "Uh, huh...relaxing and peaceful! Have you seen those lines at the mall?! And I still haven't figured out what to buy for Uncle Bob!" Yeah, I understand because I've been there. But over the last few years, my husband and I have decided to take a very intentional approach to not only the Christmas holiday, but the entire season as well. This has restored peace and joy to Christmas time, and I have begun to cherish every little moment.

What We Do

We do a lot of fun things for Christmas. We see all the huge light displays throughout Oklahoma. We roast marshmallows on the fire. We eat pies. But we also try to add some intentionality to the holiday. As a family, we decided that there were certain traditions that we wanted to add to our Christmas celebration to enhance the holiday. One of these traditions is the Jesse Tree. If you are not familiar with the Jesse tree, here's a great post on the subject. Even though we're already on the 8th day of the month, it's not too late to start. You can double up for a few days, and then you'll be caught up. The kids and I do the Jesse tree together for our Bible time during school. We have a live pine tree outside that we hang our ornaments on (ours are just laminated paper.)

I have also been teaching the kids about various Christmas symbols (tree, stockings, Santa, mistletoe, etc.) In learning about the history of these symbols, the kids have started thinking about which symbols point us to the Lord at Christmas, and which ones really have no place in our worship of Jesus. As the kids learn about each symbol, we add it to the lapbook we're making. I love that we will be able to pull it out each Christmas, and that it involves the kids in how we worship at Christmas.

Our family also enjoys participating in the Advent Conspiracy. The basic premise of this movement is to reject what they call the "hyper-consumerism" that has gripped this country at Christmas. Instead, give yourself to others through your time and effort. Here's a wonderful video about their mission.

So this year, we are having a completely homemade Christmas. My husband and I have enjoyed thinking through what we wanted to give each person for Christmas, and then I make everything. I takes a lot of time and love, which I think is a much better way of sharing Christ's love than handing someone a gift that they don't really want or need.

With the money that we could have spent on Christmas, we are planning to do two things. First of all, we adopt a family in need, and provide them with a Christmas dinner and goodies for each of the family members. Last year, we did this with the kids, and we had only adopted our kids just a few weeks before. They couldn't figure out why we were going grocery shopping for a different family, but you know what? That night that we took all the goodies and food over to that needy family's house was burned into their memory, and they still talk about it all the time. We don't do it for accolades, but rather to show the sacrificial love of Christ to others. When my kids gave that ham to the family last Christmas, they knew that they had given up a toy to buy that. I want my kids to not just talk about helping the hurting, but to be in the trenches along side them. And I think it really helps them battle the "gimme gimme's" that strike children and adults alike at Christmas.

Also, with the money we're saving, we're looking into sponsoring an orphan or two this coming year. This past Sunday, our church was visited by World Help, and we were very touched by the fact that so many people in our world do not have clean drinking water or food. So, we are considering sponsoring a child to help them receive schooling, water, and food.

So, these things have helped to bring a deeper, more fulfilling meaning to Christmas. We don't have to wait in long lines at the store, or wait to sit on Santa's lap, or any of that. By getting back to Christmas without the consumerism, we have found peace and joy in our celebration again.

I'd love to hear from you...what are some fun and meaningful traditions that your family embraces to worship Jesus at Christmas?