One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1654 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.

Creamy Avocado Pasta Recipe

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By Mavis Butterfield on March 21, 2013 · 14 Comments

I made myself a simple plate of creamy avocado pasta for lunch the other day and I had to share the recipe. With all the deals on avocados lately, this yummy avocado pasta recipe is just another excuse to eat more avocados!

Ingredients

7 oz pasta {I used spaghetti noodles}
1 ripe avocado, pitted
1 garlic clove, peeled
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
pinch of freshly ground pepper

Directions

Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil and cook your pasta until al dente {about 6- 7 minutes}.

Place the avocado, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in a food processor or a blender and give it a few whirls until everything is nice and smooth.

Once the pasta is done cooking, drain it in to a colander and toss with the avocado sauce. Serve immediately.

Talk about an easy peasy lunch!

Looking for more pasta recipes? Check out the book The Glorious Pasta of Italy by Domenica Marchetti {I love her name!}. The book has rock star reviews and it’s available in hardback and the Kindle version.

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Mavis Garden Blog – Planting Broccoli, Cauliflower and Checking the Chives

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By Mavis Butterfield on March 21, 2013 · 19 Comments

Yesterday the weather was nuts. It was all sunshine and rainbows one minute and showers the next. And the wind, holy cow it was windy here yesterday.

The good news is, the chives I transplanted alongside the greenhouse last fall are doing great in their new home. I scattered a few chive seeds I collected last fall in the bare areas and hopefully this area will fill out nicely over the next few months.

Even though the weather was a total bust, I still managed to get some broccoli, and cauliflower starts planted.

It’s really hard for me not to fill all 16 of the raised garden beds right now.

Check out the artichoke plants. I think they look pretty great considering Lucy the puggle dog likes to run through the bed every time we go out to the garden.

I’m not exactly sure how I am going to keep her out of the garden beds yet, so if you have any ideas {other than a fence} please let me know.

I’m hoping someone out there has a neat trick or knows something I can plant around the edges that will make the garden beds seem less desirable to her, and yet let her still roam around the backyard.

The rhubarb crowns we planted about a month ago are finally starting to come up.

And the garlic! Did you plant any last fall? Our garlic is a little behind this year because the chickens got into it and I had to replant. I’m hoping for some yummy garlic scapes in about another month or two.

What’s new in your garden? Do you have anything popping through the soil yet? Do you have any tricks on how to keep dogs out of the garden?

~Mavis

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How Much do People Spend on Groceries Per Week?

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By Mavis Butterfield on March 20, 2013 · 37 Comments

{Mavis’ Albertsons Double Coupon Shopping Trip February 2012}

Several years ago I borrowed the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats from the Library.

The book featured families from around the world showing the groceries they purchased in any given week. The one thing that really stuck out to me was that no matter how much food the families had to display for the photographer, they were all very proud of what they had.

Just as I probably was last year around this time when I scored all the food you see above for $7.24.

What this picture didn’t show of course was how I had to get up at the crack of dawn, drive to the store with a fistful of coupons, collect my pre-orders, stand in line, wait, then proceed to check out, drive home, unload the food, display the food, and then photograph it all and write up the lengthily transaction details.

{Mavis’ Winco Grocery Shopping Trip January 2013}

Fast forward to about a year later, and I have pretty much bowed out of the whole extreme coupon craze. Why? Because I was tired of playing the game. I’d rather spend less time and effort on grocery shopping, and more time with my family at home and playing in my garden.

I think it will be interesting to see if I can pull off spending an average of one hundred dollars a month on food for the third year in a row. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it without trying as hard, but I am sure going to give it my best shot.

***************

I was recently reminded of Hungry Planet: What the World Eats {and the pictures behind them} on facebook by Katleen and Carol. I found the pictures in a series of 3 picture posts on Time.com and thought you might want to take a peek.

What the World Eats Part 1
What the World Eats Part 2
What the World Eats Part 3

Can you identify with any of these families?

Is there a particular family you think your grocery shopping habits are similar to?

How much do YOU spend on groceries per week?

~Mavis

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Rice Cooker Recipes – Chicken and Thyme Rice with Carrots

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By Mavis Butterfield on March 20, 2013 · 6 Comments

When I made Asian chicken with ginger the other night, I also whipped up an easy batch of chicken and thyme rice with carrots as well.

I’m sure if you have ever looked at the ingredients on the back of one of those premixed boxes of rice, some of the ingredients were pretty hard to pronounce. Well guess what? A four year old will be able to pronounce all the ingredients in this simple {and delicious} recipe.

How cool is that?

Ingredients

2 cups jasmine rice
3 cups chicken stock {or water if you prefer}
1 large carrot, diced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Measure 2 cups jasmine rice and rinse in a fine-mesh sieve.

Place the chicken stock, rice, carrots, thyme, parsley, and kosher salt in a rice cooker and cook as you would regular white rice.

Or, if you don’t have a rice cooker, place all the ingredients in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 20 minutes or until the rice is tender.

Serve as a side dish or hey, just eat a giant bowl of rice for dinner. That works too!

~Mavis

If you love using your rice cooker as much as I do, you’ll want to check out The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook . The book is filled with 250 awesome possum recipes.

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.