New Clothes Pin Bag

Debbie at Homemaking Dreams has been making and selling some very cute clothes pin bags. She has a tutorial for how to make them too.
I have been wanting one so I just dug through my fabric and found these Debbie Mumm retro homemaker fabrics, I think I bought them in 2002.
I don't have an outdoor clothes line but I do use clothes pins to hang skirts and pants from regular clothes hangers. My bag will be hanging inside just above the clothes dryer in the laundry room

Debbie, thanks for your tutorial!

Meals for this week

]For lunch on Sunday, I cooked a large beef roast with corn, green peas, gravy and homemade bread. That is a lot of meat on that platter for just 2 people, isn't it?
We will have hot roast beef sandwiches tomorrow night for supper. I put 3 containers of roast in the freezer and will use it for vegetable beef soup. If the weather cools off at the end of the week, I hope to make soup Thursday or Friday.
I cooked 7 pounds of ground turkey today and seasoned it for taco filling. We had taco salads for supper and put the rest of that turkey taco in 5 containers in the freezer for future meals. I am sure Jimmy will want to take some to his apartment too.

Some weeks I really stick with my menu plans and some weeks I just don't. So this week, that is as much menu planning as I am going to do.
I still plan on cooking and eating at home but will just wing it!

Table for in the hall

I bought this little table at a garage sale last summer. I painted it white but never really liked it white. I found a can of apple green "oops" paint at Lowes for $2 so I thought I would try it green.
I think that little table was just meant to be green! It is now in the hall by the guest bathroom. The little pig lamp is also a garage sale find, it was 10 cents. I think it will be a great night light when we have guests.

This weeks deals

This week, I went to one thrift store and four garage sales. At the thrift store, I only bought this kitchen towel for 50 cents. It is a nice, big muslin tea towel and I know I will use it until it is completely worn out.

At first I thought it was homemade, but then I saw this tiny company logo. It was made in 1991 and I guess it has just been completely unused and living in some one's drawer for 17 years until it ended up at the thrift store.

At the 4 garage sales, we did not buy anything except a brand new dog leash for Theo, $2.
There was a $5 coupon for Febreeze Noticeables in the Sept. Proctor and Gamble coupon section and another one in this Sunday's P&G coupons. Walmart sells this fall edition of the Febreeze for $5.97. It was has a slightly spicy, sort of orange scent. It also comes in a floral/fresh scented version but I don't like it as well as the fall one. But for 97 cents, it is a great deal
I went to Big Lots looking the red checked wallpaper that Manuela shows on her blog. No cute wallpaper at my Big Lots, but I did find our favorite salsa, Pace medium, in 64 ounce bottles for $4.

Menus for week starting Sept. 22

I only cooked a few of the meals I planned for last week. My in-laws did not come to our town and Jeff wanted to smoke some meat and we certainly had plenty to eat, just did not eat what I planned.
But my menus are not written in stone, just possible plans.

I've planned this weeks menus and I think I will stick them pretty close. Our weekend plans are a little up in the air so I picked some things I might cook but they are quite likely to change.

All of this week's menus that call for ground meat will use ground turkey. I have not found any good deals on ground beef recently but did stock up on ground white turkey with specials at 2 different stores. I think we ended up with 17 pounds of ground turkey.

Monday
Mexicalli Pie
this is a simple casserole made with 1 pound of ground meat browned with 1/2 an onion and bell pepper, then mixed with 1 cup salsa, 1 1/2 cups corn, salt and pepper to taste. Put in a greased pie pan and top with 1/2 cup shredded cheese and 1 cup crushed corn chips. bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
Makes 8 servings, 204 calories each.

Tuesday
Healthy Sloppy Joes with oven fried onion rings

Wednesday
Tammy's Chicken Rice Bake

Thursday
Holy Smoked Bacon and Mushroom Penne

Friday
Susan's Deep Dish Pizza Casserole
servings | 6
estimated POINTS per serving | 6

Ingredients
1 pound ground round
1 15-oz can chunky Italian-style tomato sauce
cooking spray
1 10-oz can refrigerated pizza crust dough
6 1-oz slices part-skim mozzarella cheese - divided
You can also add any other topping that you might like on pizza

Instructions
Cook meat in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until
browned, stirring until it crumbles. Drain if necessary and return
to skillet. Add tomato sauce, and heat through. While meat cooks,
coat a 13x9x2-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Unroll pizza
crust dough, and press into bottom and halfway up sides of baking
dish. Line bottom of pizza crust with 3 slices mozzarella cheese.
Top with meat mixture. Bake, uncovered at 425 for 12 minutes. Top
with remaining 3 cheese slices, and bake 5 additional minutes or
until crust is browned and cheese melts. Cool 5 minutes before
serving.

Special Notes
Nutritional analysis per serving: 277 calories; 7.7g. fat; 1.6g.
fiber; 49mg. cholesterol; 667mg. sodium

This recipe makes for big servings. I add onions, mushrooms, and
spices. It is really good!

Weekend meals
Rice and black bean pilaf
Ribs from the freezer
Sandwiches
Chili

and in case you are wondering, we ate the last of that 20 pound bag of potatoes for lunch today. And there are NO potatoes on this week's menu

latest garage sale purchases

Jeff, Nina and I went to several garage sales early Saturday morning. Some the sales were really bad and I thought everything they were trying to sell should of just been put out for the trash trucks.
We did not buy much but we did find a few real treasures.
This Longaberger cracker basket with plastic liner was $1.50!
Jeff is a happy man because he now has a pair of recliners.
One garage sale had a lot of furniture. They had 2 black leather, like new, Lane recliners. The seller said she wanted $80 for each or $150 for the pair. Jeff showed her a $100 bill and asked if he could have them both for $100 and she agreed.
The timing is pretty good because I am in the process of re-doing the living room. Those are new curtains behind him that I sewed and put up earlier in the week.
I think we got the furniture rearranged yesterday and now I just need to decide what to put on the walls. I have been getting so many ideas from all the great blogs out there.

Show and Tell Friday

This is my china doll. It was made just for me by my grandmother and great-grandmother. My great grandmother made the dress and I wish you all could see the quality of her sewing.
Can you see the tiny lavender rick rack that edges the ruffle at her neck? There is more rick rack around the skirts ruffle and on her sun bonnet.
She has a sun-bonnet
a lace petticoat
and even lace bloomers.
I don't remember ever naming her, she is just the china doll.

16 breakfasts for $3.84

My husband says 2 of his co-workers stop at a convenience store every morning for a pack of cigarettes and an energy drink, then make a second stop for biscuits and gravy at a fast food place on their way to work. Yikes! That all seems like it would take so much time and money aside from being so unhealthy.
Jeff brown-bags his breakfast and lunch everyday he works. His lunch is usually a helping a leftovers from our previous night's supper. For breakfast, he really likes a homemade breakfast sandwich.
I use Grands biscuits, $1.67 a can - 50 cents/2 coupon and Farmland bacon, $2.50 - $2 coupon, bought at Wal-mart.

Each sandwich gets wrapped in a Baggie and frozen, then Jeff re-heats his 24 cent sandwich when he gets to work.

Womens night at church

When I planned the weekly menus, I forgot about the womens dinner at church. So I postponed the ham and potato dish I first planned. Jeff had some chili from the freezer and Nina and I went to women's night.

I knew the decorations would be beautiful because they always are! The meal was baked potatoes with all the toppings and field greens salad in a buffet line. Dessert was fresh fruit and Texas Sheet Cake.
We sat at round tables covered with brown tablecloths. Each table had the same decorations, either orange, green or purple.
The centerpieces were large flower pots with brown polka dots and glitter around the top rim. The topiary part was just a brown cone. The pots were filled with matching tulle.

oops, this one is upside down!

The shoes were our name tags.
Party favors were tiny pots filled with mints. Each pot has 2 layers of tulle, one of brown tulle and one of the same color as the pot.

Menus for Sept 15-22

I am still trying to use up that 20 pound bag of potatoes, FYI - unless you have a bigger family than I do to cook for, don't buy 20 pounds of potatoes at once.

Monday
Scalloped Potatoes and Ham
Ingredients:
6 cups raw potatoes, cut into small cubes
1 medium onion, minced
1 tsp. salt
1/2 lb. cooked ham, cubed
4 Tbsp. butter
4 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I will use Velveeta because I don't like how cheddar gets grainy in sauces)

Directions:
1. Layer potatoes, onion, 1 tsp. salt and ham into slow cooker.
2. Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in flour and 1 tsp. salt. Cook until
bubbly. Gradually add milk. Cook until smooth and thickened. Add
cheese and stir until melted. Pour over potato-ham mixture, stirring
lightly.
3. Cover. Cook on Low 5-7 hours, or High 3-4 hours. ( I will probably bake it in the oven at 350 for an hour or so)

Tuesday
SouthWest Taco Pie - a Pampered Chef Recipe
Crust:
1/4 c. + 1 tbsp cornmeal
3/4 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c milk
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Filling:
1 lb lean ground beef (I will use ground turkey that I got on sale last week)
1 c. chunky salsa
1 c shredded co-jack cheese
1 c. shredded lettuce
1/2 c. chopped tomato
1/4 c. sliced black olives (optional!)
sour cream, for garnish

Preheat oven to 450. Lightly spray 9" stoneware pie plate with vegetable oil. Sprinkle 1 tbsp cornmeal evenly on bottom and sides on pie plate. Combine the remaining cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt. Add milk and oil, stir with fork until mixture forms a ball. Roll out to create crust, shape into pie plate.

For filling, brown ground beef, drain. Stir in salsa. Spoon beef mixture into pie crust; sprinkle with cheese. Bake 12-15 minutes or until crust is golden brown & cheese is melted. Top pie with lettuce, tomato and olives. Garnish with sour cream & additional salsa, if you'd like.

Wednesday
Pillsbury's Smothered Chicken - served on mashed potatos

Thursday
Pinto Beans and Cornbread

Friday
Spaghetti with homemade sauce from the freezer

From what I am writing down, it looks like I will be doing nothing but cooking this weekend. I planned plenty of desserts and meals because my in-laws will be in town for the weekend. But I don't know which meals they will be here for so I planned something big for every meal but will only cook a lot when I am sure they will be here. And we will probably eat out some but I just want to be ready for whatever.

Weekend desserts
Key Lime Pie tarts
chewy chocolate chip cookies This is a recipe for Meredith @ Like Merchant Ships
Pound cake with lemon glaze

Saturday
Breakfast
bacon, eggs, and toast

lunch
Taco Ring - another Pampered Chef recipe

Supper
Barbecued chicken with baked potatoes


Sunday
breakfast
bacon, eggs, biscuits

lunch
Roast beef with carrots and potatoes

supper
Chicken and Black bean chili

Garage Sales finds

We went to a few garage sales this morning, I am little sad because I think garage sale season is just about over. There might be a few more in September but I don't expect there will be very many more until spring.
We went to 4 different sales today. I only bought things at one of them though.

Decorative plates $1 each

7 fabric remnants, 25 cents each - the 2 black and white pieces are several yards each.
Valentines scarf and a fall scarf 10 cents each

Bragging about my daughter

I have not done much today worth blogging about so I thought would show off what my daughter, Nina, has been up too. She took a session of cake decorating classes last fall and learned the basics. Now she is branching out and doing much cooler stuff than just frosting roses.


She made this cake yesterday for the 20th birthday of the student worker at her office.

Cupcakes


Nina and Hannah,
Hannah in one of Nina's sisters-in-law and she had a pool party for her 10th birthday.


Nina makes bon-bons out of the cake scraps.
Close up of the USMC she made a few weeks ago for her daddy.

Nina is the best daughter and she is just as sweet and pretty as her cakes, too!

Before and after

Before
Jeff and I went to several rummage sales Saturday morning. One of my finds was this set of 3 glass candle pedestals for just 75 cents. I recently saw a similar set, but with a nice finish, at Hobby Lobby for $20. This rummage sale set was clear glass with a gold splatter design on the inside, not very pretty at all.
Since I had nothing to lose, I looked through my spray paint box and found a can of almond paint. After a few coats of paint, I am really happy with the results.
After
I even had the brand new candles, bought a few months as a gift set, on clearance at Wal-mart for $2. The brown ribbon was tied around the box of candles.
The candles are Cedar - Oakmoss, a very different scent than I usually buy. It smells kind of like my son's aftershave and that is a good thing.
My mom, the Crochet Queen, made the doily.

Menus for this week Sept.7- Sept.14

When I shopped for groceries on Friday. I was about to buy a 10 pound bag of potatoes for $4.99 when I saw the 20 pound bags for $5.99. Since I love a bargain, I got the big bag. I made potato salad on Saturday and sent some of it home with Jimmy. Then I made a big batch of mashed potatoes with the roast on Sunday and will use those leftovers in the potato chicken fritters.
So if these menus look a little too potato-y, thats why!

Sunday
Roast beef with mashed potatoes, corn on the cob and green salad

Monday
Potato Chicken Fritters and a big green salad
I cooked this for supper tonight and my finished dish looked just like the original bloggers, I think it is a good recipe but neither Jeff or I were very fond of it.

Tuesday
Taco Ring with more salad

Wednesday
Chicken strips with Cheryl's baked potatoes

Thursday
pork carnitas with Mexican rice

Friday
Paula Deen's Chicken Pot Pie ( I will omit the hard cooked eggs, add corn and cooked potato and just use 2 tablespoons of butter to drizzle on the top, not the whole stick like Paula does. and it will still be very yummy and cheaper)


Saturday
lunch Pork Loin on buns with oven fries
supper homemade pizza

Sunday
grilled chicken breasts

Frugal Family of Five Recipe

I was wondering what we were going to have for lunch on Saturday while I browsed some blogs. Lucky for me, I found the perfect recipe for a quick, easy, and low cost at Frugal Family of Five
Karen writes this new blog.
I did change up her recipe a bit. I added a sauted onion, cut the chicken into bite size pieces, added some fresh corn and just sprinkled the cheese on top instead of stirring it into the recipe.
We thought the dish was really good, Thanks Karen!

Spicy Chicken and Rice

SERVES 4

• 1 lb chicken tenders, raw
• 1 (16 ounce) can chicken broth
• 1 (10 ounce) can rotel (Rotel is the brand name for canned tomatoes and chilis)
  
• 1 cup white rice, uncooked
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• Garlic Powder
  
• salt & pepper

1. Using a large, deep skillet with a cover pour can of chicken broth and can of rotel into skillet.
2. Stir in cup of rice.
3. Lay chicken tenders on top of rice and sprinkle with garlic, salt and pepper. Go easy on the pepper if you don't like it too hot because the Rotel has a little kick to it.
4. Cover and cook over medium high heat for 20 minutes or until chicken is opaque.
5. Remove from heat and sprinkle with the cheese. Stir lightly until cheese melts slightly.
6. Serve with whatever green you have on hand.

Friday Show and Tell

This is my first Friday show and tell link back to Kelli's House.

I bought this quilt and shams set for just $17 at a clearance sale. I remade the bed with the new set this afternoon and it makes me think of autumn - even though the weather in Oklahoma is still a lot like summer.

Do you like contests and decorating tips?

Then head over to Meme's blog. I discovered the Screaming Meme's blog last week and have learned a lot about decorating and painting techniques. She is funny too.
Meme is hosting a great giveaway for a $25 Lowes card and a $10 gas card.


http://thescreamingmeme.blogspot.com/

Tuesday Tip

I got a great sale on Olay Ribbons at Walgreens in July. I bought it because it is a good shower soap but I recently tried it as a hand soap. It feels like you just washed your hands with a very nice hand lotion and the soft feeling lasts for hours too.