Remmey Roasts - frugal idea for combined oven use

This may be a no-brainer to many, but I just thought of it all by myself so I'm taking credit!

There aren't enough O's in the world to express how much I looooove roasted garlic.  My husband is completely grossed out how I can literally just eat it out of the clove.  That clearly doesn't stop me!  But, I don't like to make it until I'm going to use it, so it doesn't sit around getting mushy.  Often, that means I am baking it in the toaster oven while other dinner is cooking.  Sure, running the toaster oven with nothing other than garlic in it is better than running the full size oven, but still, every little bit counts. 

Obviously I know I should just put the garlic to roast in the oven while something else is cooking, but I rarely remember to do that, unless it's a freakin cake that I definitely do NOT want smelling like garlic! 

So, this week I was making roasted potatoes.  Normally I would chop up a ton of garlic and toss it around with the potatoes and oil.  Lightbulbs starting going off when I grabbed the garlic this week.  Why not roast the garlic itself, along with the food, but roast more than I need so I'm getting the garlic I need for this meal, plus some extra already to go tomorrow? 

Duh.
I know.  This is incredibly simple.  But, you can see in the picture that I roasted two whole heads of garlic in the same pan as my potatoes.  One of them, I simply squeezed out of the clove and into my potatoes as soon as it came out of the oven.  The other clove was saved for the next day.  It might seem so silly, but I cook the vast majority of our meals on the stovetop or crockpot.  It really does save from running an oven that otherwise wouldn't get turned out and used up electricity. 

Remmey Roasts: Stir fry peas

 

Meet my new favorite wing-it lunch.

Stir Fry farmers market peas

 

 This was was a real wing-it the other day.  I was grabbing some cherry tomatoes for the baby when I noticed these poor little peas.  I had bought them at the farmers market, with such great expectations, 6 days earlier.  They weren't bad yet, but they weren't their bright, fresh, happy selves.  Waste not, want not, I had to do something fast!  They became an amazing diet-friendly lunch.  

I'm not kidding you.  This was my lunch.  My entire lunch.  And I was full for hours.

Here's the rundown:

Ingredients

gorgeous fresh peas in the pods, green beans, etc

fresh or jarred minced garlic

low sodium soy sauce

asian style hot sauce, such as Srirachi

sliced almonds

olive oil

sesame oil (optional)

Method

heat enough olive oil to just barely coat the entire bottom of the pan (going to depend on the size of your pan)

heat the pan up to around a 7 or 8

put as much garlic as you like into the oil and stir as it cooks

as soon as the garlic starts smelling up the kitchen, throw in the almonds.  keep stirring so they don't brown too dark

add the peas or green beans and keep stirring around

as soon as the peas/beans start getting the beautiful bright green color, pour in your soy sauce.  I like to shoot for no more than an equal amount of olive oil used.

because of the high heat, the soy sauce will boil up quickly - keep stirring!

now's the time to add your hot sauce - as much as you like.

it only takes a few seconds and you're ready to eat.

add a splash of sesame oil at the end if you like that flavor.

here are my peas just before adding the soy sauce

 YUM!

Remmey Roasts - healthy, frugal, & delicious! Pork roast, buttered noodles, spicy stir fry broccoli

We had one of those dinner last night that was just down right good.  I'm pretty experimental.  My recent commitment to a grocery budget has really toned it down, but this week I did one day that was all new recipes for dinner.  Fingers were crossed!

http://www.spicytreats.net/2013/02/broccoli-in-hot-garlic-sauce.html

First I did some fabulous spicy stir-fried broccoli.  It was only me and the middle child eating this, so that's why it's a pretty small amount.  This was amazing, though, and I wished I had more broccoli to cook!

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/buttered-noodles-with-toasted-sage

Our main side was there buttered noodles with fresh herbs.  I collected some newly-sprouted sage, rosemary and chives from my front yard.  We had the herbed butter sauce over whole wheat egg noodles.

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2011/12/slow-cooker-parmesan-honey-pork-roast.html

Let's not forget the main attraction!
This crockpot parmesan pork was surprisingly good.  The meat was a really nice texture, with a nice sweetness, but a little crunch from the browned parmesan on the outside.  The boiled marinade made a great sauce.

Our yummy dinner!

Adventures in dirty hippie-ness... No Poo

This isn't exactly a new subject for me... but more of a second (third? fourth?  who knows...) attempt.

No Poo.

Ever tried it?

There are various methods all lumped under the same name of "No Poo".  For some it's literally not washing hair, but just rinsing with water and lots of extra brushing to clean hair.  Some people just skip shampoo (the hair product that cleans away hair products, etc, but also strips all of the good, healthy oils from the hair), while continuing to use conditioner.  I am trying, again, to use the baking soda and apple cider vinegar (AVC) system.

I actually started with a transition.  I went about 2 weeks using this awful organic shampoo we had and no one likes.  It doesn't feel like it cleans like a typical shampoo.  I figured that might be a good first step, as it didn't feel like it was stripping oils.  During this time I committed to cease use of all styling products that lead to build up on my hair.  After around 2 weeks, I went back to the baking soda and acv.  I am currently using a ratio of 1 tablespoon in a 16oz drinking cup, for both items.  I put the baking soda in my cup, take it in the shower.  The cup gets filled with water and stirred up in the shower.  I pour that over my hair and try to massage it in at the scalp.  Then I put a tablespoon of the acv in the cup and fill it up with water again.  I pour this over my hair, started with just a tiny bit up at the roots to fully rinse, and then moving it down to use the rest on only the lower half of my hair.  I've read that using the acv rinse over the whole head can cause greasy hair up top, but I like to use a little at the roots to be sure all of the baking soda is rinsed away.

And the results?
Well, the first week was awesome.  When I was using conventional shampoo, I only washed my hair once or twice a week.  The other days I just did a nice rinse and scalp massage in the shower with plain water.  I have been doing the No Poo twice a week so far, and my hair felt amazing in the first week.  Now, though, I think I am in a transition period.  Googling this concept the first time I tried it made it very clear that I should expect this 'hair freaking out' stage as it adjusts to the change.  My body has to learn that it's ok to stop producing all of those extra oils it was producing to compensate for the harsh shampoo washings.

Here's what I ended up doing yesterday because it was just so crazy looking I couldn't take my kids to school without covering this mess up:




I'm feeling like a die hard right now, though.  I really want to make this work.  I'm going to stick with the 1 tablespoon of each for a couple weeks and see if it evens out.  I feel like it would be rather pointless to start messing with different ratios, etc when it might just be 'hair freaking out stage' that needs to run it's course and no amount of fiddling is going to make it normalize any faster.
Maybe next time I'll get the real camera out so I can really show the condition of my hair after a few weeks of No Poo... but don't count on it.  iPad is always around, and I'm lazy like that.

Squats. My strategy, and doing them right.

I just happened to see this great post while browsing the news (while simultaneously teaching my 6 year old's kindergarten lessons, listening to the 7 year old stomping upstairs over a lost worksheet, holding a 3 year old on my lap and rubbing his feet like he always insists I do when he's sleepy, and petting 1of our 2 dogs with my feet) this morning.

picture from same article

It reminded me of the really awesome exercise program (Delta Fit) I was several weeks into when I realized I was worsening my diastatis recti.  In the first stage, the videos stress the correct way to perform squats.  I knew right away those tiny adjustments were going to make good things happen.  I progressed in my ability very quickly.  It only took a couple weeks to gain the strength to do a perfect one-legged squat, something I though I would never be able to do.  My butt started toning, noticeably, in that same time frame.

It really does matter - do it properly!

Just this morning, before seeing this article, I told myself I need to get back to doing those squats.  For the first few hours of my day, I have been doing just 10 basic squats each time I enter my bathroom or kitchen.  This will easily add up to quite a nice total throughout the day, and I don't get worn out.  I can always do just ten little squats. 
Well well well, it looks like it was meant to be.  I read the article and I am officially doing this.  Even on days where I don't get any "real exercise", I'll have gotten in quite a few good squats.

Financial Diet = Coupons

Our financial diet means avoiding unnecessary spending.  Food is definitely necessary, but it's also a variable expense.  I spoke previously about our new cash-based grocery budget, menu planning, and my basic shopping strategies.  Today I thought I would share my coupon routine.

I am, by NO means, an extreme couponer.  I'm not drawn to expending that much effort in order to stockpile things my family will probably never get to use, nor to fill my house with unhealthy items just because they were practically free. 

Still, coupons are a very worth while vehicle for saving money!

It's not, by far, a central component to our grocery budgeting, but I do feel it's important.  I can use coupons at the butcher or the farmers market.  I don't get the newspaper.  And yet, I still coupon!

I have a wonderful friend who saves her leftover coupon inserts for me.  I grab them whenever we see each other at library story time or get the kids together to play on the weekend.  My father also saves his unused coupons for me.  Between that, and printing any really good online coupons, I feel like I can still save plenty of money without paying for newspapers that we won't ever open besides pulling out the coupons.

I have been through quite a few of those cardboard and plastic coupon holders.  They just do not last.  I also waste a bunch of time relabeling the sections because they are not organized in a way that makes sense to me.  When my last coupon holder died on me, I decided it was time for a new system.  

And here she is:

Here's the bag I purchase for my coupons.  My goal was something cheap, durable, and that I could personalize 100% to fit my use.
It's sold in the office supplies in Walmart for less than $2.  It's a very sturdy vinyl material.  This baby isn't going to tear apart in two months.
(you can see my partial 'meal plan' scribbled on the notebook right next to it)

And here's a peek inside.  I am a hippie at heart, so reuse is always my first choice.  The bag is new, but the dividers are just pieces cut from the strong covers of my kids school workbooks after they have used all of the inside pages.  I cut them with the little tabs that stick up to write my categories on them.  You could use something more like a bunch of envelopes, but I like the simplicity of just these cards.  I just keep the coupons for each category behind their respective cards.  I do have one envelope in the front labeled "use today".  This is for the coupons I have prepared and intend to use on that day's shopping trip.  Anything unused will get refiled after shopping.  I also keep the store cards and a pen in there at all times.  

Each week I scan through and pull out any expired coupons that need recycled, and then put in the new coupons cut that week.  Then I'll make my meal plan, which leads to the shopping list.  I will pull any coupons I know I want to use and put them in the "use today" envelope, along with my shopping list.  I will also note any price match items on my shopping list, and use the pen in my coupon bag to cross them off if I don't end up getting that item, or it's already the same or better price.  This bag might be taller and wider, but it's so much easier to carry around.  It fits in my purse with much less bulk than the typical accordion file coupon holders.

Plus, it's a great place to store receipts if you need to save them.  I intend to save some of my upcoming receipts to help create my price book.  That will easily fit into my coupon bag as well, so I'm always able to easily see if a price I spot is low enough to purchase.

Happy Saving!

Public Parenting - FAIL

It's been a pretty rough start.  I'm doing great with encouraging the kids to use nicer language with each other during our typical interactions.  My 3 year old is honestly amazing in how much he uses "May I please" phrases and says "Thank you" without prompting.  He has even picked up on my attempts to acknowledge good behavior, and will announce that his brother is "being a good brother" when they are playing nicely together.

My older son, however, is going to take a lot of work.  My will daughter, too, when it comes to dealing with him, but that kid is just constantly acting in unacceptable ways.  

It's not even noon and I have completely and utterly lost control of the situation myself over his behavior. 

The short version is:  my kid has an unrelenting temper and zero self control.  

Yesterday he, a 6 year old, cried, kicked, and screamed through the majority of a 40 minute car ride, all because the 3 year old boy was making his SpiderMan web shooting sound.  Let me preface:  this is not an annoying sound.  This is an adorable game that their little brother plays daily, and the 6 year old plays it with him all the time.  Yesterday was just a cranky day, and he felt that the 3 year old was maliciously "aiming" his webs at him.  Nevermind that the 3 year old sits in the middle row of the van and cannot see around his carseat to even look at the 6 year old, nevermind aim his imaginary webs at him.  I give him credit for trying the nice way first.  I heard, "Will you stop it, please?" about 6 times before he started crying.  I did step in before the crying and reminded him that repeating the question, no matter how politely you say it, rarely helps.  I also told him that his brother did not have to stop his game, because his game was, in no way, hurting him and was not even directed at him as he was accusing.  It didn't matter.  He asks to stop it several more times, and then regressed to kicking the seats in front of him, screaming and crying.  Even with the threat of having to sit out of the *favorite* art class we were headed to, he could barely stop the meltdown.  

This all happened the day after I grabbed him by both arms and pulled him away after walking into see him about to punch the 3 year old with both fists, over some baby blocks that the 3 year old grabbed from his hands.

This also happened the day before today - when he spent 10 solid minutes screaming and crying over a simple school assignment.  This was nothing out of his ability, and I was right beside him helping.  We have an understood policy that, when he cannot control himself and allow me to help him, I turn back to my desk and work on my own business.  He does what he needs to do to calm down, and then tells me he "is ready to listen".  This rule really has made an impact on how many disasters we have.  Today, though, just wasn't his day.  When I did the customary turning to my desk, signalling that he needed to calm down and stop screaming so I could help him, he decided to start kicking his desk.  He proceeded to throw his brand new headset provided by the school (not that it matters) across the room.  At this point, I lost it.  There was yelling.  There was physical punishment.  There is now a 6 year old sitting in his bed, doing God knows what, because I want to do better, but I can't look at him without screaming right now.