One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1325 of 2143 - I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

Carrot Coconut Bread

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By Mavis Butterfield on January 29, 2014 · 8 Comments

I love carrot cake. Love it. I’ve perfected a carrot cake recipe and can almost make it in my sleep {because good grief I have a TON of carrots to use up!}. And I thought it was my favorite carrot recipe. It now has some serious competition! Holy canolies people, I wished I had made this carrot bread sooner. Because hello, this cake was freakin’ awesome.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda {15 Cool Uses for Baking Soda}
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup applesauce
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk {I used 2%}
2 cups shredded carrots
1 1/3 cups sweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup raisins {optional}
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped {optional}

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Thoroughly grease 2 bread pans and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine first 6 ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix applesauce, eggs, and milk until incorporated. Combine wet and dry ingredients and stir just until blended. Fold in remaining ingredients. Divide batter equally between prepared pans and bake for 50-55 minutes or until cooked through.

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The Best Super Bowl Appetizer Recipes

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By Mavis Butterfield on January 29, 2014 · 6 Comments

Being that I’m from the Seattle area, suddenly this Super Bowl matters {let’s not ever repeat that to the HH}. For the first time ever, I’m actually just as excited for the game as I am for the food.

But of course, Super Bowl Sunday is not complete without some awesome appetizers. I’ve included all my favorites in one spot so you can save time searching for them, and use that time to deck yourself out in green and blue {those are the colors you’re wearing, right?!}.

Homemade Guacamole
Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos
Roasted Heirloom Tomato Salsa

Chex Party Mix

Black Bean and Corn Quesadilla

Ham and Cheese Quinoa Bites

Baked Zucchini Fries

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts

Smashed Potatoes
Garlic Spinach Dip

White Bean Dip with Sun Dried Tomatoes

Ranch Style Deviled Eggs

Black Bean Salsa with Corn and Avocados

Baked Not Fried Pork Egg Rolls
Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Zucchini Pizza Bites

Baked Mozzarella Sticks

Looking for more appetizer recipes? Check out my Appetizer Board on Pinterest!

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Should Food Handlers Wear Gloves?

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By Mavis Butterfield on January 29, 2014 · 28 Comments

While I was browsing through the salt on NPR yesterday, I came across an article about a new California law requiring food handlers to wear gloves. The new law is an effort to further increase food safety in restaurants.

For big restaurant chains, the new law came as no surprise. They were already prepared, but for smaller restaurants, where food assembly and presentation is still an art form, the new law is a nuisance. Sushi chefs, who require the full feeling of their fingers, are unhappy with trying to assemble their delicate little bite sized rolls in baggy gloves. {Although, the chef they interviewed said he would follow the letter of the law,even if he felt it affected his craft.}

When done right, gloves would protect patrons {and by done right, I mean they would need to change them each and every time they switched from handling food to handling something else}, but opponents of the new law say that the gloves will decrease how much people actually wash their hands.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a food service worker brush their glove up against their nose, touch a dirty cash register or open a refrigerator door with their gloves on. Will gloves just give people a false sense of security about the hygiene of their prepared food? I’m torn. What do you think? Gloves or no gloves?

~Mavis

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12 Goals for the New Year – Week 4 of 52

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By Mavis Butterfield on January 29, 2014 · 5 Comments

I came up with 12 goals I’d like to accomplish this year with the hopes of being able to cross one off my list per month to make them more manageable. I thought a great way to hold myself accountable to the things I want to accomplish this year would be to do a weekly update.

Here’s how I am doing so far:

1. Clean, de-clutter and organize my entire home in 30 days or less. This past weekend we cleaned out and organized the entire garage! Now all that’s left to do is clean off my kitchen counter and I’ll be done. Wahoooooo!

2. Fit into the same jeans I wore 8 years ago when we moved into our house. I must have bumped one of the buttons on my Omron Pedometer last week because it went from counting steps to counting miles. Sunday when I took off the pedometer and crawled in bed I noticed I had walked 10 MILES! Holy cow.

3. Travel. – So far The Girl and I have reservations for 3 destinations. Today I’ll be looking into how much it will cost {and to see if we can afford} to go to the 4th spot on our wish list. I don’t know about you, but I love getting new stamps in my passport. 😉

4. Send my daughter to college without having a nervous breakdown thus spending a week in bed sobbing.

5. Get 3 new teeth. 😉 Well, I didn’t get any new teeth this past week, but I did have the pleasure of paying $60 out of pocket to get my chipped tooth fixed AND I got to go back to the oral surgeon yesterday to get the screw that feel out of my head inserted back in. Note to self: gummy hearts cause dental appliances to fall out.

6. Pay off my car. Here’s a video of us when we bought it last summer.

7. Finish my primitive folk art rug I started 4 years ago. Well, let’s just day I got a little side tracked this past week and started a NEW rug hooking project. The picture kind of stinks because I took the picture at night with my phone, but you can get the general idea of what it looks like. I’m not happy with the way the dog turned out so I’ll pull those strips out and do it over.

8. Family Day. Do one thing together as a family every Sunday. Fail. We were suppose to have a family movie night on Sunday but instead we all ended up cleaning the house and garage. The kids said that even though we were together, cleaning doesn’t count as a family activity. And I agree.

9. Secret Plan #1 Working on it!

10. Secret Plan #2

11. Secret Plan #3

12. Convince the HH we should buy a Salt Box Style House in Colonial Williamsburg. Guess what? I’ve decided I must live in a Saltbox style house. I even started a Saltbox House Pinterest Board. 😉 C’mon, a little wishful thinking never hurt anyone. Go take a look and tell me which one is your favorite.

13. Spend at least 1 hour a day working in my garden. Rain is in the forecast for today but even so, my plan is to clean up this little corner of the garden today. I plan on pulling up the kale and heaving it over the fence for the chickens and then raking the ground over a bit {I’m not sure what I’ll plant there though yet}.

So there you have it, the progress on my goals for the new year.

How about YOU? How are your 2014 goals coming along?

~Mavis

P.S. YES, I know I wrote down 13 goals. I’m fairly certain I won’t be able to attain one of them. {gee, I wonder which one?} But I wanted to add it in there anyway because I believe in miracles.

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.