One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1622 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.

How to Grow Fenugreek Sprouts {Start to Finish}

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By Mavis Butterfield on April 19, 2013 · 8 Comments

Do you grow your own sprouts? My online boyfriend Ryan from Botanical Interests Seed Company asked me if I had tried fenugreek sprouts before {I hadn’t} so I decided to give them a try. The verdict? Delicious!

Have you tried them?

Brief description: Fenugreek is a legume typically used as a spice. When sprouted it provides high levels of vitamins, flavonoids, and antioxidants.

Where to Plant Fenugreek Sprouts: In glass jars or sprouters indoors. Keep out of direct sunlight, and make sure you keep them in a place with good air circulation.

Planting Seeds: Fenugreek seeds must be disinfected and soaked prior to sprouting in order to minimize potential E. Coli. To do this, simply soak in 1 tsp. bleach to 1 cup hot tap water for 15 minutes. Then, rinse thoroughly.

I use a Victorio 4 Tray Kitchen Sprouter, but you could also use a canning jar to sprout. Once you have disinfected seeds, soak them in plain old tap water for 6 hours. This softens the exterior of the fenugreek seed. Finally, spread your seeds out in the sprouter trays {or in the bottom of your jar}. Fill the top tray with 2 cups of water and wait for it to trickle through. Repeat the process every 12 hours using fresh water. For a jar, rinse seeds and drain completely every 3-4 hours.

Growing Tips: Once sprouts are ready to eat, you can slow down their growth by placing them in the fridge, giving you a longer time to enjoy them. Also, make sure during the rinsing process, you don’t let your seeds dry out completely–it will make them very angry.

How to Harvest: When sprouts are ready, you simply rinse and eat the whole thing. Fenugreek sprouts are best eaten before green leaves appear, though.

Cool Fact: Fenugreek is a widely used spice in India, especially in curries. Fenugreek sprouts have an equally desirable flavor, with all of the nutritional benefits.

Because I’m all pumped up about sprouts these days, I just ordered the new Botanical Interest Seed Sprouter. I like the design of this one a little better than the one I have right now, plus it has 4 see through compartments which I think is pretty cool as well.

I’ll let you know what I think about it once I get it and try it out.

Peace Out Girl Scouts.

~Mavis

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Faneuil Hall – Boston, Massachusetts

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By Mavis Butterfield on April 19, 2013 · 9 Comments

One Hundred Dollars a Month reader Heather and I were emailing back and forth about chickens and gardening recently when I told her my family would be headed to Boston for spring break. Heather lives just outside the city and suggested we check out Faneuil Hall.

For those of who don’t know, Faneuil Hall was built in 1742 by Boston’s then wealthiest merchant, Peter Faneuil. He built it as a gift to the city. Originally, it was used for merchants, fisherman, meat and produce sellers to peddle their wares. It is also home to the famous protests to the Sugar Act, where colonists coined the phrase: “No taxation without representation.”

In 1826, Quincy Market was added. It served as an expansion to the already popular Faneuil Hall. Both Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall were vital business hubs until the mid 1900’s, when they fell into such disrepair that most of the buildings stood empty.

By the 1970’s, plans to demolish the buildings were underway. Luckily, a group of forward thinking Bostonians rallied to save the buildings, and by 1976, a massive renovations renewed the Faneuil Hall and revitalized downtown Boston.

There is a grasshopper weather vane that sits on top of Faneuil Hall. Many people consider it a symbol of Boston. During the Revolutionary War, people suspected of being spies were asked to describe the weather vane. If they could, they were set free–proving themselves as Bostonians. If not, they were considered British spies. {You can’t argue with water-tight logic like that.}

Street performers began performing in Faneuil Hall until the 1970’s–when they performed to entertain the construction workers who were revitalizing the buildings. The street performers never left, and now are a huge part of the Faneuil Hall culture. We had no idea what this guy was doing, but the crowd sure loved him.

In addition to 14 restaurants and pubs, there are also 36 international food vendors as well. In fact the Qunicy Market has the largest food hall in New England. We bought a Boston Cream pie {of course} and it was delicious.

Call me a history nerd, but we loved Faneuil Hall.

~Mavis

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The 2013 Boston Marathon – Counting My Lucky Stars

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By Mavis Butterfield on April 19, 2013 · 72 Comments

On Sunday night my family took the red eye to Boston. When we arrived at our hotel around 7 am on Monday morning, they were just beginning to set up for the 2013 Boston Marathon.

We decided to go to Boston for Spring break a few weeks prior. I found a sweet deal on some last minute tickets, bought them on the spot and told myself I’d figure out the details of our trip later. {My husband was born just outside of Boston and was looking forward to going back. The kids and I had never been.}

About a week after I booked the airline tickets, I starting looking for a place to stay and found out the Boston Marathon would be happening the very same morning we were set to arrive. The hotel I booked was 1 block from the finish line.

The Girl and I were super excited and talked about watching the marathon daily until we left for our trip.

Once we arrived we all took a quick 1 hour nap, then the boys headed off on foot to the Boston Red Sox game and The Girl and I went down to the street to watch the finishers.

I sent my friend Amberlina the above picture from the 100 meter line and sent her a quick text telling her how cool it was to be there.

The Girl and I watched the Women and Men’s Elite runners finish.

Being there, hearing the crowd cheer, was amazing. Simply amazing.

The one thing that sticks in my mind is how happy my daughter looked, and how I said to her “Isn’t this awesome? We could just stand here for hours and cheer them on.”

She agreed.

But we didn’t stay for hours. We left around the 3 hour mark.

We later found out we were standing right across the street from where the second bomb went off.

Instead of staying to watch the rest of the race, we ate lunch at Faneuil Hall and then walked to Paul Revere’s House.

Somewhere along the way we found the Freedom Trail and we were standing in the Old North Church when I got a call from the Handsome Husband at 3:03 pm.

We were in a church so I silenced the call and did not answer.

He called back.

Handsome Husband : WHERE ARE YOU.
Mavis: The Old North Church.
Handsome Husband: WHAT?

The line went dead.

He called back 2 more times before the call went though.

My husband and son were walking back from the Red Sox game and stopped at the finish line to watch the marathon. The sidewalk was packed with spectators and finishers so they stepped into a department store to take a shortcut back to our hotel.

And that’s when they heard the bombs go off.

They didn’t realize what had happened until they were back in our hotel room and looked outside the window and that’s when they called.

It took The Girl and I about 3 hours before we could make it back to them. The streets were blocked off and the area was in lock down.

Everyone had a dazed look in their eyes and was silent. We were surrounded by the Police, FBI, ATF, SWAT and National Guard. It was like we had just stepped on to a movie set.

It was surreal. We weren’t scared because we were surround by armored vehicles and officers. Oddly enough we felt safe.

I’m not sure if it has really sunk in yet, but it really makes you stop and think about how fragile life is and what matters the most.

Make your life count. Be happy. Do something you love. Don’t live your life in fear. Tell the people you love, that you LOVE THEM.

Be grateful for everyday you wake up with air in your lungs, because you never know, when it could be your last.

~Mavis

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Top 10 Soup Recipes

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By Mavis Butterfield on April 18, 2013 · 5 Comments

Olive Garden Pasta E Fagioli Soup {Copy Cat Recipe}

Baby it’s cold outside!

A heaping bowl of hot soup sounds good on a day like today. Here are my top 10 favorite soup recipes.

Stay warm,

Mavis

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Corn Chowder with Bacon, Potatoes and Chives

Black Bean and Corn Soup

Rustic Pea Soup with Ham

Vegetable Soup with Beef

Creamy Chicken Soup

Taco Soup

Fully Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Guinness Beef Stew

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.