12 in 2015

See ya, 2014!

Another year has come and gone. Christmas brought much needed re-connection with family. In a few shorts months it will be spring again. Life will be brought back from the seemingly dormant earth. It's a time to leave behind was not meant for us and move into the beautiful possibilities that are available to us.

I don't do New Year's resolutions - it is too reminiscent of punishment or some sense of unworthiness to me. I liken the feeling to that I had in confession as a child - the focus on how "bad" we are does not inspire change, but rather sets us up for failure. 

This year I will be doing something different. I will be choosing 12 experiences I'd like to have. It's so easy for me to get caught up in the "shoulds" of life. As a single parent I tend to focus more on responsibility rather than fun. We get to create so much of our lives - and most of us have an abundant supply of choices even within certain restrictions (whether they be financial, physical or emotional). So this year, I will be making a list of things I'd like to add to my human experience.  Some are small and easily accomplished. Others will require slightly more effort.  All are intended to create memories, celebrate, connect or simply to enjoy.

My list of 12 "Things," in no particularly order, for 2015:

• Ride a horse.

• Visit the Olympus Day Spa, also known as naked town (no, no it's not).

• Follow an actual sewing pattern.

• Take my daughter to the Oregon Coast.

• Host a random White Elephant party.

• Host a charity curry night to raise funds for a yet named charity.

• Establish a neighborhood Food Program where spring and summer garden abundance is delivered to the food bank weekly.

• Read the Marilyn Monroe Biography I've had on my list for years. It's not higher learning, but her life is fascinating.  Most of the books I read tend to be learning oriented, so something just for pleasure needs to happen!

• Host a sushi night.

• Sign up for a pottery class.

• Sign up for a belly dance or tap class, or some other movement class sure to make me look a fool.

• Wild card! That's right, I'm open to suggestions!

Some of these may not seem like the most frugal activities, but frugality as I see it, is not about deprivation, but rather putting your money where it gives you the the most value.  Money is meant to provide necessities, yes, but quality and value with vary from person to person.  Focusing on experiences, rather than stuff is my goal.  It is so easy to put your mental energy towards "getting the best deal" and while that certainly CAN be a part of the frugal and simple life, it can also play into consumerism in a big way. 

Who's with me for the 12 in 2015? Please share in the comments some of your 12!

The BEST Way to Get Rid of Fruit Flies

It's plum and tomato season at my place.  Which means it's also fruit fly season.

These nasty buggers multiply faster than gremlins, and the time to take care of it is when you see the first fruit fly (but who ever actually does that?). 

All you need is a glass or jar, a large piece of paper, and some bait (i.e. Something sweet to attract them.  I used a bit of fruit, but vinegar or wine will do the trick).

Make your paper into a cone shape above the bait and watch those dummies fly around unable to get out.

Me -1, fruit flies-0

Make sure to dispose of outside so you don't let any of the buggers loose.  Feel proud you outsmarted hundreds of invertebrates. 

Make it! Sunday Blessings and Moroccan Inspired Plum Chicken

Yesterday was a lovely mix of lazy and productive--exactly how I like my Sundays.  I spent a good chunk of the morning in bed, followed by grocery shopping, cleaning and cooking.  I like a tidy house, but often let the laundry get a wee out of control (out of sight out of mind in that basement laundry room). I've been working on keeping up with the laundry almost everyday, and so far it seems to be helping with the transition back to school, and maintenance of my sanity. Keeping on top of things throughout the week allows for these blissful Sundays. 

I had two good friends over for dinner last night. They also happen to be neighbors, so it's easy to throw together impromptu dinner parties. When my little girl is with her dad I spend extra time in the kitchen experimenting with recipes, dancing to Otis Redding and sometimes having a nice adult beverage along the way. I like having an afternoon to myself now and again, but when I make something delicious, I am always so disappointed she missed it being the little foodie she is. 

Blissful but sweaty, very sweaty, in the kitchen.

I had an abundance of plums from my generous neighbor Suzie, so I wanted to work as many into the recipe as possible.  I had picked both purple plums and yellow, but the yellow ones were already overripe and needed to be used immediately.  If you don't have a source of free plums, you could try prunes, raisins, wilty apricots or peaches, and even an apple or two.  Anything to give that touch of sweetness. 

I had my heart set on Moroccan chicken after my friend Deborah mentioned she had some recently.  I googled "Moroccan chicken" for inspiration on spices and searched the cupboard and found that I had smoked paprika, cumin and turmeric.  Those would be the smoky, savory flavors balancing the sweetness of the plums.  Moroccan recipes are often a wonderful marriage of sweet fruit and smoky, spicy flavor. 

As are most of my "recipes" (I put "recipes" in quotes because I'm an off the fly cook and think that a little confidence and a few techniques in the kitchen are far more important than any recipe), this was an easy dish, and relatively frugal.  The price per serving was approximately $2.24 per person, but could have easily been cheaper if I had used cheaper meat and veggies.  At one time I would have only have had the option of using less expensive ingredients.  I think you could easily get the recipe down to at least $1.25 per serving if not lower if using less expensive chicken and veggies (i.e. not organic).   For me, while I do adhere to a budget, I choose to put some of the extra money I have now towards food.  It's valuable to me.  I didn't always have that option when I was in my very lean years where I was living on $150/month for two people to eat.  The important thing is that we try to fill ourselves with nourishing food within our budgets that are enjoyable and healthy.  

I did serve this with some sides from the garden, but it is easily  an entire filling meal on its own. Lemon rice would also be delicious with this dish. 

Without further adieu...

Moroccan Plum Chicken

Ingredients:

5 chicken thighs (feel free to use more, this is how many came in the package I bought)

1/2 pound of rainbow carrots (bag is 1 lb)

1 onion

1-2 tablespoons of olive oil or some other oil

Spices (turmeric, smoked paprika, cumin, cinnamon, black pepper) 

Kosher salt

Potaoes (I think I used about 1 pound - I abide by the "use as many as can fit in your pan" rule"). 

1/2 jar of Trader Joes Green Olive Tapanade

8 skinned plums (Since these were free I didn't factor them into the overall cost.  Possibly slightly unfair, I know). 

Chicken thighs are a cheaper cut of meat no matter if you buy conventional or organic.  The higher fat content in the meat makes this an extra flavorful and juicy cut.

Start by taking your meat out of the package and put them on a plate.  Salt them generously on both sides with kosher salt.  Sprinkle with turmeric, smoked paprika, and cumin an both sides.  I like the chicken to be out of the fridge for about 40 minutes before I cook it.  It really helps to get all that flavor in there.  

Take your overripe plums and slide the skin off (an easy task with such ripe fruit).  Pop the pit out by squishing the plum with your fingers. I squished the plums into pieces into a small pan just using my fingers.  Sprinkle with a generous amount of cinnamon. Honestly, I don't know if it's entirely necessary to cook the plums to bring out the flavor.  I did for about 20 minutes and the results were smashing - but feel free to experiment. I think I could have cooked them much longer and reduced to a sweeter concoction.  This makeshift plum sauce would be incredible over ice cream, mixed with dessert rice, or in cottage cheese or yogurt. 

Chop up your potatoes, carrots and onions and toss with oil, salt and black pepper in a bowl.  Toss with the plum sauce and place all that yumminess into a baking dish.  I broke my large casserole pan last week (it exploded, long story), and so I used an old Corningware pot that was generously given to me after a neighbor on the block passed away. Lay those juicy chicken thighs right atop that lovely veg and then top each thigh with a scoop of green olive tapanade (it's best to scoop out what you need first in a bowl and then place on the chicken as you don't want to contaminate the rest of the jar with chicken germs).

Not the prettiest picture, but I swear to you, this was delicious!

Pop in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 mins to an hour or until the potatoes are done. I finished off my cooking with about a five minute broil. If you prefer your chicken not quite as well done, add in after the potatoes and veggies have cooked for a bit. Enjoy with friends or family.  Or if you are lucky, friends you love enough as family, and family you like enough as friends. 

My lovely friends and a giant air conditioner tube.

Make It! Watermelon Shaved Ice

Nothing beats a cool slice of watermelon on a hot day...right?

Until last night I didn't think so, but that was before we tried a little experiment in the kitchen with frozen watermelon.

I had a bunch of watermelon leftover from a party that needed to be eaten up quickly.  I had heard you could freeze it, so I popped the cubed pieces into a tupperware and into the freezer.

My kiddo really liked how it tasted frozen, but I thought I'd try to improve on the fun and pop it in the food processor.

This may work with any number of blending tools, but I used a hand powered food processor a friend gave me for my birthday.

It turned out perfectly! So sweet and delicious and powdery, and free from all the typical nasty chemicals and colorings and artificial sweeteners that come with regular shaved ice.

I think this would be really yummy with frozen peaches and nectarines too!

Swap It! iTunes

Awhile ago I decided that I wanted more music in my life.  It's something that really adds joy to my life, but because of the expense, I've never been one to have a huge music collection.  I would go to the library and picked up cds, but eventually the cd player quit on us (who knew a child's Tinkerbell cd player would be so unreliable?).  And to be honest, while I adore the library, I was never really able to get the kind of music that I wanted there.  And sometimes I would get a bunch of cds and forget about them entirely and return them late.  And pay fines. Ugh, fines!

Then, I received a very generous gift of an older iPhone from a friend of mine.  She had upgraded, and knew I could use it.  And then something happened. I rediscovered iTunes.  Since I don't have internet at home (just on my phone) I had forgotten about iTunes for the most part.  I was giddy with all my new music obsessions! I started buying one song here, another there, and before I knew it, I had spent $40 in new music (Dolly Parton, Sam Smith, and Bob Dylan in case you were wondering). In a week.  I was out of control!

Then I had remembered my friend's love of Pandora.  Whenever she's comes over for dinner she turns on Pandora on her phone and we stick it in a glass which gives it a speaker effect (it's an awesome trick, try it!).  And Pandora is freeeee!  Well, sort of.  It's free with a bunch of obnoxious ads.  They were so frequent and offensive (in your face advertising drives me bonkers), I couldn't take it anymore (which I'm assuming happens quite a bit)!  I took the plunge and ordered ad-free Pandora for $3.99 a month (I locked in that rate because it is a recurring monthly charge.  My rate will not go up.  I think they have since raised it to $4.99/month).

And you know what?  It's awesome! I just uploaded the app on my phone and started "making stations" (really you just enter in the name of an artist and it adds their station).

When you choose a station on Pandora internet radio, it will play music from that artist, as well as artists in the same genre.  About every few songs a song will be played by the artist you chose.  There are endless stations available, and it's a great way to be introduced to new music.  I'm sold!

If you are a music lover with a penchant for spending too much on downloads from either iTunes or Amazon, considering giving Pandora a try!

How do you get your music? Have you made the swap from iTunes to Pandora? Is there another resource like it? Please share your thoughts in the comments section!

Make it! Orangettes

I love when you can take something headed for the trash and make it into something beautiful.  The French, fine makers of fancy things, have done this so elegantly with the classic candied orange peel treat, orangettes.  

These are surprisingly simple, and can be as frugal as you want them to be. 

This is what you will need:

Orange peels (or lemon or grapefruit) from 4 large oranges (I used 5 smaller oranges)

Sugar (I used turbinado, but you can use regular sugar, or ultra fine granulated sugar)

Water

Chocolate (optional)

Since you are eating the peels, I would only use organic oranges for this.  Everyone feels differently about this topic, so do what you feel comfortable with.  Either way, make sure to start by cleaning your oranges well.

Next you will take a knife and cut off the very top and bottom of the oranges.

Score each of the sides with a smaller knife so that you have several clean straight slices around the orange.  Peel the orange and slice into thin sections.

You will take these orange peels and boil them for 15 minutes in water.  

Drain, rinse, and drain again. 

I collected the water the oranges were cooked in because I thought I might be able to use it for cleaning purposes. I'd love to hear if you know what to do with it.  It is very bitter, however, and not something you want to drink (trust me on this one)!

Do not drink this. Yuck!

Next you will combine your sugar and water in a pot and bring to a boil.  You are making a simple syrup using one part sugar to one part water.   The recipe that I started with suggested suggested 3 cups of sugar and three cups of water, but I used two cups of each and it was plenty syrup to cover the amount of orange peels I was using. 

Dissolve all of the sugar, bring to a boil and add peels. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.

I used turbinado sugar which is why my syrup is so dark.  

Orangettes drying, orange syrup, and a bar of chocolate.

Drain your oranges (make sure to collect that delicious orange flavored syrup), toss in sugar and lay them out to dry.  I tossed my orange peels in turbinado.  Next time I will use a finer granulated sugar to toss them in, but they still look great.  

I let them dry about 24 hours, and then I dipped them in melted dark chocolate and placed them on parchment paper on a tray and stuck them in a fridge to firm up.  The chocolate part is optional, but so worth it if you have it.

They don't look "perfect" but that's kind of charming I think. And once you taste them you will know why they sell these in the fancy French bakeries!

I packaged them up in jam jars and gave them as gifts.

The total cost for this was about $4.50 for 4 gifts.  I used organic sugar and organic fair trade chocolate from Trader Joe's.  Using less expensive chocolate and sugar would make this significantly cheaper.

Here is the cost breakdown:

Orange peels - I'm counting these as free since they would normally be tossed and we buy oranges anyway.

Sugar - About $2.50 worth of organic Turbinado from TJ's.

Water - Free

Organic Fair Trade Dark Chocolate Bar from TJ's (optional) - $2

I haven't decided what I will be using the orange syrup for yet, but I think I might use it to make a rhubarb sauce.  You could use it to add to tea, for summer cocktails, basically anywhere you would use simple syrup.

Have you ever made candied citrus peel?  Have you ever tasted it?  These have been getting rave reviews from kids and grown-ups alike, so give it a try!

A Frugal Experiment: Red Raspberry Leaf Tea

Image Credit: Wikipedia

I had been hearing for years that red raspberry leaf tea can be good for "lady time."  And by "lady time" I mean your period. I started googling and found various anecdotes about how it helped women in pregnancy and was given upon the advice of midwives.* Most articles were about the benefits for pregnancy related issues, with afterthoughts about it's efficacy during menses. 

According to Wikipedia,

 "The red raspberry leaf (Rubus idaeus), also known as garden raspberry leaf, is a pale-green leaf produced by the raspberry plant; an upright shrub with perennialroots and prickly, biennial canes. The leaf has been used in folk remedies, due to its rich content in vitamins, minerals, and tannins." 

Worth a shot, right?

Since I'm doing "No Pay May," I decided I would try to make some myself instead of buying this stuff that I see in the health food store:

                                                 
I have a few small raspberry plants and decided to start there. While I've read that dried leaves are better (not sure why), my period already started and I was hurting (plus I'm not very patient when I am wanting to try something fun)!  So Monday night I went out to the garden, plucked a few leaves off the red raspberry bush and steeped a handful.  Within an hour my cramps had eased and I did not have to take ibuprofen.  Weird.

Tuesday morning - Typically my heaviest and most painful day, I did the same and my cramps were held held at bay and I still didn't need to take ibuprofen to get through the work day (Ibuprofen has been linked to liver damage among other things, so I try not to take it unless nothing else is helping).  Hmmm, could it be the placebo effect?

Wednesday - I noticed the past few days my bleeding has been lighter than usual. Started cramping a bit this morning.  Made some more tea. Cramps were mild enough that I didn't need ibuprofen.

Wednesday afternoon - cramps were a little stronger. Made another cup using the old leaves. - an hour later they were pretty much gone. Hmmmm...

Today is Thursday, and I'm at the tail end of my period.  My period was significantly lighter, and I did not have to take ibuprofen for cramps (probably the first time since I started my period at age 13 that I have not use ibuprofen).

Other things that I have done that could be affecting the outcome here is that I begun to take iron, Vitamin D, and B Vitamins consistently about a week ago. The brain is also very powerful, and it could be a combined mental effect of placebo and having a soothing tea. Who knows?

Bottom Line: I'll be harvesting more leaves to dry and make the tea the "right" way for next month. To me this was a successful frugal experiment!

Have you had success with red raspberry tea? Have you made it yourself?  Have you tried making any other kinds of tea?

*I am not, nor do I claim to be a healthcare professional.  Please consult your healthcare provider for advice on your particular situation.

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