Chicks are here!

Two days ago my BFF mentioned that I never blog any more. I don’t really know why I don’t. I have the Internet now (via Hubby’s mobile hotspot) and most evenings I know he wouldn’t mind the distraction, but honestly, I think it’s just that my life hasn’t really been that interesting. Nothing new, nothing exciting, not even much cooking in the kitchen, barely knitted all winter and the garden has been hibernating over the winter. But somehow I decided that things are exciting enough to write two paragraphs.

The exciting news – we have baby chicks. We bought four, but sadly one passed just 15 hours after we got them. I think I took it worse than June Bug, but Hubby buried it and we continue with three. Their names are Dixie, Sally and Jacob. I chose Dixie’s name and June Bug chose Sally and Jacob. Sally and Jacob are Rhode Island Reds. Dixie is black but I’m not sure what type of chick she/he is. It’s so sweet to hear their quiet little peeps most of the day. They’re in the dining room in a cardboard box with a heat lamp for now. In about four weeks I guess they can move outdoors. Honestly, I think I’ll miss them.

Even bigger news is that I want to have a baby – and even better, Hubby has agreed to help (that’s pretty important, I guess lol)! I’m not even posting today’s edition of the blog on facebook, since I don’t want to get anyone too excited. I’ve done so much “googling” on ways to prevent my last pre-term pregnancy that I’m about googled out. What I’ve learned for the most part is eat healthy, take my pre-natal vitamins and some extra folic acid and try not to get too stressed out! I’ll post more about my eating regimen soon. Hopefully my post will be due to the fact that I’m actually pregnant since eating according to this regimen as I am right now (not pregnant) is causing me jeans to get a little too tight – ugh!

It's Never Like It Is On TV

So, it’s been ages since I wrote here. I wasn’t even sure if my blog still existed, but so far it lives on. My latest hobby has not been knitting or gardening or even avoiding housework (It’s true, this new hobby has even encouraged me to be tidier, it’s a revelation). Let me explain.

It’s couponing. I know what you’re thinking, “Are you ‘Extreme Couponing’ like on those shows?” Well, no and yes. I’ve seen the shows and honestly they were certainly the motivating factor, but frankly my family doesn’t need 40 boxes of cereal, 100 candy bars and 30 packages of hot cocoa mix even if they’re freakishly cheap!

It all started with attending a “couponing class” put on by the SacBee a few weeks ago, which honestly was really just a big push for subscribing to the SacBee (yes, I subscribed to two copies every Sunday lol at $.77 an issue, though), but it did give us a heads up to an awesome website they sponsor – sacbee.grocerysmarts.com. It’s our local go-to for price matchup-ups for our local stores (Safeway, Save-mart, Raley’s and Wal-Mart) and a few pharmacies (Walgreens, CVS, Rite-Aide and Target).

Here’s how it works. Basically when you get the Sunday paper there are coupons in one of three different coupon inserts – Smartsource (SS), Red Plub (RP) and Proctor & Gamble (PG). The grocerysmarts website literally takes the local ad prices for the week and matches whatever current coupons are available in these coupon inserts (and some other sources, I’ll explain later) to alert you to the best prices around (3-star, 4-star, 5-star, Free and better than free – you get paid to buy it!). Technically, you don’t even have to clip the coupons until you’re ready to use them. You just see what the best deal for the week is from their list and you go back to your coupon inserts and clip them then. Also there’s a coupon database at hotcouponworld.com so if there’s a killer price at the store (close-out or clearance or something) on an item you don’t see a coupon match-up for and isn’t listed in the local ad, you might be able to find a coupon for it on their website and print a coupon from the source it mentions. A smart phone is useful for this, so you’re not searching through all your inserts forever while standing in the store!

I don’t want to overwhelm you with all the other great little tips for now. Let me just tell you about my two shopping trips this week.

At CVS

Finish Power Dishwasher Detergent

Reg. Price $6.39

Sale Price $2.99

Plus $.75 coupon

Final price $2.24

Carnation Evaporated Milk

Reg. Price $1.79

Sale Price $.88

Plus $.50/2 coupon

Final price $.63 per can

I had three coupons so I bought six cans!

At Rite Aide

Halls 25-30 Count Cough Drops

Reg. Price $2.69

Sale Price $1.50

Plus $1/2 coupon

Plus Rite Aid +Up $1/2

Final price $.50 per package

I had three coupons so I bought six packages! I would have bought eight since there was the availability for a maximum of 4 +up rewards, but I only had three manufacturer coupons. (BTW, I had three coupons since I found a Sunday paper in my local starbucks and snagged the inserts that week).

Wrigley’s Gum

Reg. Price $1.29

Sale Price $1

Plus Rite Aid +Up $1

Final price Free!

(I’ll explain how this works later)

Orbit Gum

Reg. Price $1.29

Sale Price $1

Plus $.25 coupon

Plus Rite Aid +Up $1

Final price $.25 money maker!

(I’ll explain how this works later)

So there are two morals to my first post about couponing.

One, if you only subscribe to or get one newspaper (one set of coupons), you will only be able to buy one (or maybe two) items for that killer price match-up, but if you subscribe to more or can get your hands on additional papers or set of coupon inserts, you’ll have better buying power to “stockpile” for when your family needs the items you would normally have to buy at full price when they need them.

Moral two, couponing is going to take a lot of patience. The killer rock-bottom prices don’t happen on everything all at once. Like right now lots of baking things are on rock-bottom sale and there are plenty of coupons floating around. In summer, lots of condiments and those types of things will be on rock-bottom sale. The key is to buy enough to last your family for the time until the items go on rock-bottom sale again. Most things if you aren’t brand-biased (choosey about the brands you use), go on rock-bottom sale every three months. For example, I have never bought Finish detergent (over 6 bucks, no way!), but since it was on such a sale and I had a coupon, it was way cheaper than my normally cheaper Cascade! Same goes for Halls cough drops. I used to always buy the store brand or go to the dollar store, which seemed cheaper. I doubt the Rite Aide store brand or the ones at the dollar store are ever going to be 50 cents a bag! 

So for now, part of my weekly grocery budget is going towards normal sale stuff like meats and produce and a small portion is being devoted to stockpiling just one or two things a week. It may not sound like much savings, but you gotta start somewhere. Not as exciting as “Extreme Couponing” but life is never like it is on TV, right?

I can feel it coming

I've been knitting like a mad woman and summer's not even over! A jacket and hat for my friend Leslie's baby (yes Leslie who had a baby last year about this time!) - which got completed so quickly I had to start something else. It's a cabled jacket for June Bug that I'm dying to show you. More writing and pics soon!

Where does the time go?

Too long to mention it all, but here's a few highlights. Knitting has come to a complete standstill. Gardening has sped up like a freight train and cooking had been a chore - until three weeks ago. Let me explain. I visited my aunt recently and she lent me a book I'd seen in the Sac Bee, Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson. It was the first book on her shelf and it called to me the minute I set eyes on it. It's almost as if it knew it'd have a fabulous home with me. Now my aunt warned me that she hadn't attempted the recipe since the starter alone needed about 5 days to feed and nourish. But, I still didn't start right away. I wanted to read the whole recipe, again and again. (It's just my way). Well, that took about two weeks. (Remember that night time ritual I picked up from my mother-in-law?) Hubby was getting antsy and my tummy was starting to grumble too. Ok, I was finally ready. Mix 2 1/2 lbs of white bread flour and a 2 1/2 lbs whole wheat flour into a 5 lb mix of ... 1/2 white flour and 1/2 wheat flour, big whoop. Then grab a single handful put it in a small glass bowl add a little water, stir, cover with a cloth and come back tomorrow. Boring.

And that's how it began. More later don't worry. (my sis is clamoring that I've been in the computer "all night")

Did I mention that I downloaded a fun little app for June Bug to "make" donuts. She loves it. Well, what do you think happened next? We had to make some "real" donuts. Actually, I've never made them. Nope just never really wanted to. Sure I WANTED to, but I also didn't want to have to buy bigger jeans! No worries, Hubby was going somewhere the next day where he could take all the "un-eatens". Thank goodness!

I still ate 6. Oh well they were small.

Thanks Barbie!

Tonight I had a real hankering for some chocolate. Hubby even offered to go to the store for me, but I declined since I knew his motives were less noble than they seemed (I'll let you guess).

I searched the cupboards and found those loyal chocolate chips but cookies would take too long. I needed something now! Fortunately a splendid idea came from the mouth of June bug! "You can have my barbie snacks", she said so sweetly. It sounded nice, but chocolate was the real craving and nothing else would do. Then the lightbulb went on. As a child (and also as an adult) I loved those chocolate dipped gummi bears--brilliant!

A little melting, stirring, dipping and dropping, then a little waiting--brilliant. Thanks Barbie!

How far can you stretch a turkey?

When I had internet at my house it was so easy to just sit down, type my thoughts and post! Now there’s no motivation – except for my faithful three followers lol. It’s been so long that there is was too much to fit into one post. I’ve got stories to tell about a $6 turkey and then there’s the new knitting project that I have worked on for 12 ½ hours.

The $6 turkey doesn't seem as exciting as when I had all the thoughts about the post at the time. Oh, well. Basically, Save-Mart had a coupon where you bought $20 worth of groceries and got any turkey under 14 lbs for only $6. Well spending $20 bucks at the grocery store is easy for me. So, I picked it up, drove home and dreamt of the the creations I'd make. I don't celebrate Thanksgiving so making that classic dinner, wasn't my goal. I'm really not as big of a fan of a whole roast turkey anyway (a whole fried turkey is a whole other story - yummo). In a whole roast turkey the breasts are dried out by the time the rest is cooked and then if you don't have a crowd to feed, you've got a whole lot of roast turkey meat that has to be used as "roast turkey meat". Come on, there's way more exciting things I can think of to do with all that meat rather than roasting it all in one shot. And besides the process for me is the exciting part.  If I roast the whole thing now there's no more fun in the days and weeks or months that follow!

Well it took almost five days to completely thaw in the fridge. Good thing I wasn't in a hurry! The gizzards were actually still frozen but they thawed quickly enough once I yanked 'em out. 

So, first, I removed all the "good" meat - like you would a whole chicken. Two breasts and two thighs.

Then I took off the whole wings and roasted them with the carcass, neck and drumsticks. You can't dry out drumsticks, right? Hubby and June bug ate the drumsticks for dinner and I nibbled on a wing. I made some stuffing too. If there's anything I like about a traditional "turkey dinner" it's stuffing. I could eat it morning noon and night - and I have. This occasion was no different. My recipe made two loaf pans worth and after a whole week of eating for a few lunches, a few dinners and I think one midnight snack, I think there was still some left. It went in the freezer for later (Oo that's right, now I know what I'm having for lunch today!!). Hubby likes stuffing too, but could care less about it after the first day - so it's all mine :)

Back to the turkey. Two days later it was time to make the stock. In went the roasted carcass, neck and bones that remained after dinner two nights before as well as the onions, celery, carrots, garlic, peppercorns and some leeks tops left over from the oxtail soup I'd made earlier that week. 

After two hours of simmering, I carefully lifted out the the meatier bones, let them cool a bit then removed the final bits of meat.

When the stock was done about 1 1/2 hours later, the meat went back in. Now I had almost two gallons of rich roasted  Turkey stock with some still sorta-flavorful meat (that's why I removed it before the stock was done).

Half the Turkey stock got made into Turkey soup with dumplings the next day - after the addition of some chopped fresh carrots and celery. The other half went into the freezer for a rainy day.

As for those two breasts and two thighs above. One half breast got ground into ground "lean" turkey -8 oz. Its other half and the other breast was sliced thin into 6 - 4 oz. pallairds. The two thighs were made into ground "not-so-lean" turkey - two 6 oz portions. All were frozen. BTW, the food processor works great for making "ground" meat. Chop into 1 inch cubes and pulse until it's ground to your liking - no meat grinder required. I've got pictures but they are on my camera at home - sorry.

Needless to say, there will be many more meals ahead from that $6 turkey. :)

Finishing touches

Hubby and I started dating when I was 19 and he was 18. I hated that I was older and when I found out his age I even tried to break up with him over it. Well, you know who won. We met at the Honda dealership where we both worked. He sold cars and I was a receptionist. He was tall and handsome and after he asked me out for about three months (and shaved off that silly mustache) I finally said okay. He lived with his parents, but made a bunch of money, so in my eyes he was rich, and just about spent it all on me! What was not to like about him? Why am I telling you all this? Isn’t this a blog about knitting and cooking and gardening? Bear with me a bit longer. One of our favorite ways to hang out was to go shopping. He looked good in anything (remember tall and handsome) – especially a suit. I recall one occasion at Off 5th where he purchased his “legendary” Hugo Boss suit, strutting out when he tried it on (giggle, giggle). He looked amazing! Sure, it had a European cut, which his broad shoulders filled out perfectly, but that waist of his was still slimmer than those slim Europeans! Of course, he was fit back then (weren’t we all?), so all his suits had to be taken in. (Really, I’m gonna get to the point of this story.) I adore a man in uniform – and isn’t a suit basically just a uniform? Okay, fast forward 13 years. That fabulous Hugo Boss suit no longer fits (it’s not that he got taller, lol). Having fun afternoons of shopping and spending silly amounts of money are long over. However, he still needs something to where to our meetings. I think June Bug was barely born the last time he got a brand new suit. So, tomorrow we are going to mall (big family outing, lol). I doubt the suit he chooses will need to be taken in. Maybe he’s finally grown into the man he was meant to be, who I love. :)

The real reason you’re here.

Cookies that June bug and I made yesterday. 

Neon food coloring is way cool! Not natural, but it’s not like we eat it every day. I forgot I had it until it fell out of the cupboard at me the other day.

And the first loaf of “white” bread I’ve made in a while. Even all those delicious whole grains get a little boring. Couldn’t just make it all plain though, I threw in some herbs, garlic and minced onion – yum!

And finally the knitting. Before my last post, I got into a major knitting groove. I finished the baby romper for Leslie’s baby. 

I’ve only made one attempt to give it to her, so better try a bit harder, since she might see this post and wonder if she’ll ever get it!

Then, what next? It’s funny how when I finish a knitting project, I immediately want to start another one. However, those finishing touches are what really slow me down! I’m not alone. Many knitters hate the finishing part of knitting. All the weaving in of ends and seaming things up – we just want to knit! And, knitting is something to just pick up to de-stress for me, so if there’s nothing there to pick up and knit, then what, chocolate, bread, chips? So many calories!

So, right after I finished the romper, I grabbed my shrug and I actually finished the last 14 of the 15 rows in record time (remember there were over 250 stitches in each row). I realized I was going to be about 3 ½ rows short and I didn’t want to purchase another ball of yarn, but I really wasn’t sure if it would be okay, so I procrastinated – a bunch. But, I was determined to finish. I’d come all this way, I’d hate for it to sit in my knitting drawers with all those other abandoned projects! So, I brought my project with me everywhere: to my moms, to my sisters, to watch TV, to the coffee shop. I even weaved in all the ends and seamed the arms together so that the second I was done knitting, I could be done with the project and just put it on! However, it sat (right next to me), unfinished for the last two weeks. Last Friday I visited my grandmother, who, in her heyday used to make all my grandpa’s socks! She’s actually quite proud that I’ve taken such a liking to knitting. I showed her my nearly finished shrug (yes, it was right in the car with me) and that purple shirt that’s been about half done for about 6 months (yes, it’s been in my knitting bag sitting underneath the shrug all along). She loved them. She realizes that she’s likely not going to be making all the little doll clothes she used to make for my sister and my cousins and I, so she gave me a bunch of knitting books. Oo, fresh inspiration! I tried to start a project for one of June Bug’s dolls, but couldn’t get the gage right, probably because the shrug was calling out to me to be finished! So, tonight I sat down and about 15 minutes later, it was done. 

I tried it on, spun around and yes, wondered, what next?