Bread Baking Day

Second rising after the bread has been shaped.
I later decided to put them in pans because they were spreading out instead of rising.
They weren't rising as much as they needed to after 4 hours, so I left them out overnight.

I baked them this morning at 6:30. Wish you could have smelled the kitchen. Yum!

The texture turned out great. The starter turned out to be pretty sour and my friend's recipe contains honey, so the flavor is sour with a bit of sweetness to it. A bit funky, but still yummy.

Overall, I feel that I have learned tons about baking and especially about sourdough bread. I've baked bread several times before and have always failed, so I had basically abandoned it for years. I'm gonna try again and make a couple of changes. I have the other starter that I need to try too. (the one made with yeast and sugar) I'll keep you posted.

Food Waste Tuesdays

Every Tuesday I have been going through my fridge because Wednesday is shopping day and I need to make room. In my attempt to be frugal and use up our leftovers, sometimes I still overlook food and it is wasted. It makes me so sad to throw food away.
So here we have two avocados, half of a pb&j sandwich, lentil soup, and leftover roast. I also threw away some celery(not pictured)
I hope to do better this week.

Exciting News for "Red Hen"

Ivy's Flower Station bought 6 of my plates on consignment. She just used one of my plates For Caprice's Bridal Gown's Trunk Show. It's a pretty posh Bridal Gown Boutique in Glendale. Hooray! My plates are out there and getting noticed. If you'd like to see more you can go to Ivy's Flower Station.com and that links to her blog called Diary of a Mad Florist.  I know they are hard to see under those gorgeous flowers, but my plates are down there.

Remember this desk?

 

Before

After 

Isn't it gorgeous? Willie was right to want to stain it instead of paint it. We love how it turned out and we have so much storage space. The top is huge! We have so much room to spread out papers, kids homework, etc.

Sourdough Starter

whole wheat flour and water

yeast, whole wheat flour, and sugar

This morning I walked into the kitchen 1 hour after feeding the starter and it was almost to the rim. Yahoo! This is day 3 of the starter. It takes about 7-12 days to get a good starter going that I can bake with.

Whole wheat flour, yeast, sugar, and water

When I saw that my first starter wasn't doing much, I cheated and started on one with yeast.
So, I have two going on right now.

A friend of mine in Arizona makes the most amazing whole wheat bread and rolls with her sourdough starter. She has been baking bread since she was about 11. She is truly amazing. Now, my other friend is baking with her every week and they bake several loaves for their families weekly.

Here is the amazing part about sourdough. It is a live organism that is stored in the fridge and is fed weekly with flour and water. That's it! Nothing artificial. As it sits out on your counter top and ferments, natural occurring yeast from the environment is collected through the air and forms in your mason jar. I have been reading on sourdough starters and am trying to get mine going because I am determined to learn to bake bread. Every time I try, it turns out too heavy, raw in the middle, etc. I stink at it. But I am gonna do it this time! I must! For the sake of my family!, We must stay away from preservatives and artificial sweeteners. Here's the interesting thing. My friend's bread isn't sour at all, it's more on the sweet side. If my experiment fails, a friend will be bringing me some starter from AZ. I'll keep you posted.

Modifying the Grocery Budget

Okay, it's Sunday and we still have tons of food left. We have had leftovers once and we still have more. Yesterday we didn't eat at home so we will have an extra dinner this week, but I am sure we will have more.
When I buy meat I buy family packs and they usually can work for two dinners. Depends on what I make I guess. It's looking like $150 will last more than one week. I'm sure I'll have to but more milk, but that's about it. Later in the week I will have a better guess at the amount. I am gonna try to get it down to $125.

Family of Six

Some of you might be thinking I am spending too much and others too little, but just know that I have 4 kids and I live in California. Actually, you'd be surprised at the prices around here. Many things are much more affordable than in AZ, especially since I get all my produce at a local grocery store.

My kids eat lots! I have almost two teens, so my bills will be different than many of you.
We also go through 5 gallons of milk weekly. Sometimes a little more.
We go through way too much cereal!! Way too fast!!

If you have any suggestions or great healthy and affordable recipes, please let me know. I love new recipes!

Meal Planning

In my constant quest to cut down our grocery bill, I have come up with an adequate budget for my weekly shopping bill. I have been teased by my husband and kids because I shop at two stores, sometimes three.
The last few months I calculated I could shop for 6-7 meals, lunches for 4 kids, breakfast for one week and after school snacks for about $175. I thought I could do better and I have been doing it for a little less when I am organized and have a menu.

Well, I have narrowed it down to about $150. I can probably do it for a little less, but I will not sacrifice fresh and healthy ingredients or my constant desire for new ethnic dishes. Have you noticed that eating healthy is more expensive than mac n cheese? I hate mac n cheese by the way. 

Here is the menu for this next week. I do my shopping on Wednesdays because that is when the ads begin.

The following is actually my menu beginning Tuesday.

Tue-   Tuscan Soup (So yummy) Made with sausage, kale, cannellini beans, and potatoes.

Wed- Spaghetti and Meatballs, steamed chayote, cauliflower, and carrots, and roasted red pepper and corn soup


Thur-  Breakfast Night  Mock Souffle(lots of veggies), hash browns, and juice  

Fri-    Puchero (Argentinian meal, sorta like chicken and vegetable soup) 

Sat-   Leftovers


Sun-  Baked Tilapia with brown rice and green salad

Mon-Homemade chili and corn bread

Tue-  Baked chicken Nuggetts and Baked French Fries, and green salad

Wed-Chicken Tacos, Brown Rice and Refried Beans 

I am pretty sure I bought more food than I needed for one week.
I am also really trying to cut down on fridge waste. I feel so bad when food spoils and I have to toss it.

*We are pretty flexible about the menu, sometimes I switch the dinners around to other days, so I just post the dinners, but I don't assign them a day of the week.

Hope that inspires you to be more frugal and more organized. It is one of my New Year's resolutions.

We will also be cutting back on cold cereal. It is so expensive! We all love eggs and oatmeal, so we will be having it more often. Cream of Wheat is also a great one. Plus, it's way healthier than any cold cereal.

Frugal Living

We have always lived frugally not only because of necessity but because it's smart. Our church leaders also constantly encourage us to live within our means and stay out of debt.

I have been inspired by some frugal and thrifty people to keep better track of my daily expenses. There are some expenses that we can easily cut down on if we are organized and a bit creative.
For example, we can shop at thrift stores for our clothes. I have found some really great clothes, curtains, fabric, plates, and even furniture.

My favorite brown corduroy jacket is from Gap, but I bought it at the thrift store. I have Gap, Banana republic, JJill, Guess, and other great clothes from thrift stores.
I have found Roxy, Hurley, Quicksilver, and other name brands my kids like. Do you know how much money I've saved? Tons!

We can also cut down on our grocery bill. We need to shop the ads and clip coupons. I am not great at the coupons, but I'm trying. Do your shopping and keep track of how much you need for your weekly meals and how much is going to unnecessary spending. You'll be surprised at how much you can save.

A New Business

I am starting a new business called "Red Hen." I have been busy making cake stands and last week I sold seven of them. I use vintage plates from thrift stores and estate sales and also new plates. I will also sell other vintage items such as my painted furniture. I am excited about this new opportunity. Soon I will have a website where you can check out my stuff and purchase some too.